


⠀

by themongoosewrites



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Modern Era, Nonbinary Character, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on Tumblr, Science Fiction, Slow Build, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 85
Words: 29,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26564878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themongoosewrites/pseuds/themongoosewrites
Summary: This is a convoluted story that was conceived in over ten years worth of daydreams.Though it’s probably not going to happen anyone who wants to can create fanart, fanfiction, podfic, etc of this if they want.
Kudos: 4





	1. The Stolen Box

Newton was in his second year of college when he first saw the stack of boxes.

Newton had exited a small bookshop when he noticed there was a small alleyway to the right of the bookshop. He decided to walk through it to see what was on the other side. That’s when he saw them twenty or so boxes made of metal sitting in the alley. Newton thought he could make out the letters S.T on the sides of them. Newton then watched as a truck pulled up to the end of the alley. Two men got out and began loading the boxes into their truck. Neither of the drivers payed any attention to Newton. They then drove off with the boxes. Newton went back to his dorm after that.

The boxes were owned by a company called Stevenson Technology. Their logo matched what was on the boxes and they also owned the building next to where the boxes were. Newton had gathered that much, but what he couldn’t figure out was what the building was. It was listed as a “Research Facility” but what they were researching he had no clue. Newton had told his roommate Simon about the boxes and he showed some interest but wasn’t as involved as Newton. That’s when Newton had an idea.

Newton stopped his car in front of the alleyway at 2:14 am. He got out of his car, picked up a box and went back into his car and drove back to his dorm.

In the light of his room Newton could see the box was completely welded shut. Simon then walked into the room, back from some party obviously drunk and collapsed on his bed. Newton decided he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the box and decided to go to sleep also.

In the morning Newton explained what had happened last night to Simon and displayed his frustration of not being able to get the box open. Simon said that his dad owns a storage unit and he let Simon use it to store stuff sometimes. The storage unit had some power tools in it and Simon reckoned they could probably get it open in there.

Newton and Simon arrived at the storage unit and after about twenty minutes they got the box open. Inside was a cube made up of a mess of gears and wires. Simon pressed a button on it and the maze of copper slithered away and inside was a small plant.


	2. What Was In Box Twenty-Three

It became routine. Every once in a while Newton and Simon would drive out in the middle of the night to the alleyway. They would proceed to pick a box and take it back to their dorm room. Then in the morning they would take it to the storage unit and open it.

Box twenty-three was like the others. A blank metal cube except where the S.T logo was etched into one of its sides. So Newton and Simon took it from it’s place in the alleyway and brought it to the storage unit and opened it. Inside it was a vial of liquid, a beaker,a piece of paper, and a strange machine. The machine was a glass tube it had an opening at the bottom where it looked like the beaker would fit. Suspended in the middle of the tube was a rock that looked like a key. And at the top was a small circular hole leading into the tube.

Newton and Simon got home and began to experiment with the machine. The paper inside the box had one picture on it. The picture was an illustration of someone putting a drop of the liquid inside the vile into the small opening on the top of the machine. Newton did this and once that drop hit the rock that looked like a key the liquid turned green. Much more liquid than the drop of liquid Newton put in the machine began flowing from the rock key and into the beaker. Soon the whole beaker was full of this green liquid. Newton took the beaker out of the machine. Then in an instant there was a loud crash from outside startling Newton because of this Newton knocked over the beaker onto the floor. The green liquid made a puddle on the ground. Newton grabbed a couple of paper towels to clean it up and as he put his hand on the liquid his arm fell into it and his body soon followed. All Simon could do was watch.


	3. Beyond Our Reality

Newton didn’t know where he was. He was standing on some sort of dirt but it was redder than normal. He was holding paper towels. Than he remebered everything, the machine, the liquid, being startled, trying to clean up the liquid. Newton figured then that he was in Hell. He thought that the liquid was some sort of acid and that he died. He didn’t get to ponder that thought long though. He heard a shriek of something not human. He saw what made the sound it was a ghastly sight. It almost looked like it might have once been human. It moved very quickly by throwing it’s long arms ahead of it then pulling itself forwards. It was headed for Newton and Newton knew this. Newton started running, even if he was in Hell he wouldn’t give up. Newton ran for a long time. Until something strange happened. Newton was running through a tunnel, when the tunnels walls turned back on themselves. Suddenly Newton wasn’t in the tunnel anymore. He was standing in front of a building. The building had several of those puddles of green liquid around it, except the puddles were perfectly circular.

“May I help you” said a woman who’s head and body never quite settled on one form who was suddenly there

“Am I in Hell?” Newton asked

“Sorry, what?” The woman replied

“Am I in Hell?” Newton repeated his question slighlty more irritated

“Might as well be” The woman responded

“What is that supposed to mean?” Newton asked

“Look come inside and I’ll try and answer your questions” The woman replied

The woman began walking to the entrance of the building and Newton followed. Inside the building there was a table, some chairs and some stairs leading upward. Newton and the woman sat opposite each other.

“So what are your questions?” The woman asked

“First off, where are we?” Newton inquired

“We are in the domain of a very powerful being. This being sends the followers who have betrayed it to here.” The woman answered

“Ok then, how did I get here? I didn’t betray some god or something.” Newton asked

“Did you go through some sort of green liquid?” The woman replied

“Yes” Newton answered

“That liquid is a sort of bridge between your realm and this one” the woman replied

“Right before I came here I was running through a tunnel. The tunnel just went into itself. It was like Non-Euclidean. How did that happen?” Newton asked

“This realms physics are not always stable. Though the Links outside are able to keep stable enough in here.” The woman replied

“The Links?” Newton asked

“The puddles of green liquid outside” the woman answered

“There was something chasing me. It’s limbs were too long, it look macabre. What was that?” Newton inquired

“That was another one of the banished. This realm does things to you. I was lucky enough to escape before the realm decided on some horror to change my body into.” The woman replied

“Can I get home?” Newton asked

“I honestly do not know. If you were to jump into one of the Links it’s possible you would go back to Earth but I’m not sure.” The woman answered

“And if I don’t go into one of the Links?” Newton asked

“Then you will have to live out an eternity here in this realm.” The woman replied

“I’ll take my chances with the Link” Newton said

“Very well then” the woman replied

Both the woman and Newton stand up. They both walk out the door and to one of the perfectly circular puddles. Newton braces himself as he steps in.


	4. The Mixup

“Dude what the hell!” Simon exclaimed

“Huh?” Asked Newton who has just reappeared from the puddle of green liquid

“You disappear into this weird puddle thing, then five minutes later you reappear. Where did you go?” Simon exclaimed

“It’s only been five minutes?” Newton asked

“Where did you go Newton?” Simon asked again

“I went to I guess you could call Hell” Newton said

“Newton what are you talking-“ Simon said before being cut off

“Simon, why is the rock key on the floor” Newton asked

“I don’t know, it must have fallen out” Simon said

“Is the liquid moving to the key?” Newton asked

Before Simon could respond Newton grabbed the key and pointed near the liquid. The liquid began flowing in reverse into the key. Eventually the puddle was gone.

“Well that was weird” Simon said

“Will you help me study this thing?” Newton asked

“What?” Simon inquired

“One of the things I learned while in wherever I was, was that this liquid has a strange effect on reality” Newton answered

“You know what sure, why not I’ll help you study whatever this thing is” Simon said

“Great. Let’s get started” Newton said

Newton and Simon started a series of tests on the machine and the green liquid. They didn’t find much as they were college students both working jobs that payed a little above minimum wage. One day Newton needed to store some of the liquid. He put it in a mountian dew bottle that was sitting around. The purpose of the experiment he was running was to see how the liquid would react to cold temperatures. So Newton put it in the fridge.

Simon home from his job at a local gas station and looked in the fridge. He grabbed a bottle of mountian dew and started to relax. He took a one sip of the mountian dew and he suddenly couldn’t see. But he knew, he knew many things. The pieces of information assulted his brain to fast to keep up with. He knew everything but nothing at once.

Newton walked out of the bathroom and saw that Simon was on the floor. He took one look at the puddle of green liquid on the floor and the mountian dew bottle it had come from and he knew what happened. He ran over to Simon’s body. He was still alive but his eyes were covered with the liquid and he could see a spot on his arm were the liquid was and it was spreading. Simon was whispering things so fast his words were extremely slurred and nothing could be made out. Newton made a rash decision then he jumped in the puddle of green liquid with Simon.

Newton appeared in the other realm. He had managed to curb the confusion that usually happens when you go through a puddle. Newton began running with Simon over his shoulder, he hoped he would find the building again. Newton ran and ran but it felt like he was going nowhere. Then suddenly he was somewhere, he was in front of the building.

“Back again?” The woman with no form asked

“Yes, my friend here is in danger. Can you help him?” Newton asked

“Depends” The woman said “what happened to him?” She asked

“He ingested some of the green liquid” Newton said

“Oh dear. Come inside and lay him on the table” the woman said

Newton followed the woman inside and laid Simon on the table. The woman placed her hand above Simon’s body and the very space around his body began shaking as if reality had begun to undo itself. Then suddenly it stopped and a green mist began rising out of Simon’s body. The most curled itself and begun to be absorbed by the hand of the woman.

“w-where am I” Simon stammered

“Hell buddy, you’re in Hell” Newton said rather bluntly

“Well that isn’t that good” Simon said

“No it really isn’t” Newton said

“Can we go home?” Simon asked

“Luckily yes” Newton replied

“Let’s do it then” Simon suggested

The woman led Newton and Simon outside to one of the links. Newton hopped into it and Simon followed. Once they were home they cleaned up and went to bed. When Newton would wake he would find not only was Simon gone but all of Simon’s belongings were too.


	5. How Do You Report A Missing Person When They Don’t Exist

Newton woke up, looked around, and felt something was wrong. Then he realized that Simon’s bed was gone. He looked around more and saw everything that was Simon’s was gone. Except one thing, in the corner of the room the key to the storage unit was there. Newton hurried getting dressed and headed down to the front desk.

“Hello, weird question but did my roommate somehow move out during the night?” Newton asked the man working the front desk

“What room are you in sir?” The man asked

“Room 265” Newton answered

“Can you show me your key to the room please”

“Sure” said Newton as he gave his key to the man

“Is your name Newton Catcher, sir” asked the man

“Yes” Newton replied

“There has never been another person this semester assigned to room 265 sir”

“Um, ok bye I guess” Newton replied awkwardly

Newton didn’t know what to do. Was he going insane, maybe it would surely explain what was going on lately. Newton decided that even if he was insane he might as follow his only lead, the storage unit. Newton got in his car and started driving

Newton arrived at the storage unit. He unlocked and opened it. Inside it was filled with all sorts of lab equipment. On the middle of the floor was a piece of paper. It read “Sorry for disappearing on you, thought this was the least I could do.” as soon as he read it crumbled to a fine dust in his hand.

“I don’t have a son, never had” said Simon’s dad

“Really or is that just what he asked you to tell people?” Newton asked

“Sir I’m going to have to ask you to leave or I’m calling the cops”

“Ok, ok I’ll leave”


	6. The Lizard

In only two months Newton Catcher had more money than he’d ever had in his life. Using the equipment left for him he made a new type of battery. It was more efficient, cheaper to produce, better for the environment. Point is Newton had a lot of money. He commissioned a large building in the middle of nowhere. He made sure it could not be traced back to him. What he was doing had to be a complete secret.

As Newton settled into his office he noticed a lizard scurry away from his chair. He pondered how to react to this. He gently picked up the lizard and put it in a glass cage. Then he went over to the portal machine.

The lizard had the same reaction to ingesting a portal as Simon. He decided to give it a merciful end in the incinerator. Then he had an idea what if instead of giving the portal liquid to a creature, he gave the liquid that made the portal to a creature.

The lizard was fine at least for the time being. Newton had fed it some of the clear liquid. And nothing happened. Newton came to the conclusion that it was probably just water. But that still left the mystery of what that strange key shaped rock was.

Newton was pacing his office trying to come up with a logical explanation to everything that happened to him lately. Either this weird magic is real or he was going insane. Neither explanation seemed good to him. He was supposed to be in college working towards a degree. He didn’t ask for all this magic. Then the glass cage holding the lizard fell and shattered on the floor. Newton had accidentally bumped it when he was pacing. He ran to get a broom. When he got back with the broom he noticed something strange. The lizard had multiple shards of glass in it. But it wasn’t bleeding, in fact it seemed fine. Newton picked up the lizard gingerly and pulled the shards of glass out of its body. And where the glass had been the cuts healed instantly. Newton realized that the liquid might not be water.


	7. Three Things

Newton figured he should have a name for this strange liquid so that’s what he called it Strange Liquid or SL for short. He had run many tests on the SL over the past month. Now he could say for certain it was not water. But he did not know what it was. He did know three things. First it could be put through the portal device it created a green liquid that could be used to access a strange realm similar to hell. Secondly when ingested by an animal it improved them. The lizard that had ingested the SL hadn’t need to eat or drink for a week and during that time it’s skin had thickened and made it more resilient to being hurt. Third when added to water it turned the water into SL. There was a limit to how much water at a time could be transmuted. Newton didn’t know the exact ratio but it was somewhere close to a drop of SL for every gallon of water.


	8. Experiments On The Effects Of SL On Animal Subject.

_Subject is a gecko weighing about 70 grams_

Day One: Subject was given one drop of SL. After this Subject did not show interest in eating or drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 400 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife healed instantly and subject did not appear to be in any pain.

Day Two: Subject was given one drop of SL. Subject still did not show interest in eating or drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 400 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife healed instantly and subject did not appear to be in any pain.

Day Three: Subject was given one drop of SL. Subject still did not show interest in eating or drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 300 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife healed instantly and subject did not appear to be in any pain.

(The results of day three were repeated until day eight)

Day Eight. Subject was not given any SL. Subject still did not show interest in eating or drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 300 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife healed instantly and subject did not appear to be in any pain.

(Results of day eight were repeated until day ten)

Day Ten: Subject was not given any SL. Subject showed some interest in eating and drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 500 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife healed slower than usual and subject appeared to be in moderate discomfort.

Day Eleven: Subject was not given any SL. Subject still did not show interest in eating or drinking. Skin of Subject was able to resist up to a 2000 sharpness knife on the BESS C scale. The cut made from this knife did not heal and subject appeared to be extreme pain.

Day Twelve: Trials ended.


	9. Experiments On The Effects Of SL On Animal Subject's Intelligence

_Subject is a gecko weighing approximately 65 grams_

11:05: Subject is places in a glass container with a small box with three holes shaped as a square, circle, and a triangle. Beside the box are three long objects shaped the same as the holes. Subject does not engage with the box instead they climb over it and face one of the walls of the container.

11:07: Subject is given a drop of SL.

11:08: Subject still does not engage with the box

11:36: Subject is given a small dose of general anesthetic

11:38: Subject falls asleep

11:39: Needle is placed through the skull of Subject and drop of SL is injected into their brain

11:59: Subject wakes up

12:03: Subject goes to the box and tries to place the triangle block in the circle hole.

12:03: Subject places the triangle block in the triangle hole

12:04 Subject places the circle block in the circle hole

12:04: subject places the square block in the square hole

Experiment ends


	10. Smartest Lizard I Ever Knew

Things got weirder every day for Newton. First it was different universes now it was lizards with learning capabilities. Newton was thinking about this as he gave the lizard its daily drop of SL. He discovered that he only had to inject the SL into their brain once. Then he could just feed it and somehow that worked. The lizard had mastered matching words to pictures very quickly. Today Newton would continue to teach the lizard english. He was following a lesson plan for preschoolers and it seemed to work.

To Newton’s amazement the lizard was creating sentences far more complex than what he had taught them. Newton had gone to the bathroom and came back to his flash cards scattered on the table. He was confused at the because he had left them in a neat stack. Then he saw the lizard rearranging the cards. Somehow the lizard had escaped their cage. But what really caught Newton’s attention was what the cards laid out read “the boy kicked the ball at the wall”. Newton hadn’t taught the lizard verbs yet. It had learned that on it’s own.


	11. Dictionary

Newton just ended up giving the lizard a dictionary meant for elementary schoolers . They had regular conversations now. Newton would lay out cards with the words that the lizard pointed to on the dictionary and the lizard would arrange them and they would talk that way. They talked about a bunch of earth things from Sports to War. Eventually the lizard knew everything from the dictionary he was given and moved up to a Merriam Webster’s dictionary. Then sooner the lizard was fluent in English.


	12. The Lab Assistants

It had been two months since the gecko had gained hyper-intelligence. So Newton decided to make another and another and soon there were five english fluent reptiles in this lab. They became the assistants, they did their own experiments on all sorts of topics and advised eachother on where to go if they were at a dead end in their reasearch. At least that’s what Newton assumed they did. The assistants had created some sort of language without printed words. Needless to say it was a weird work environment. But it got results. They had a food garden which produces many vegetables and fruits. Somehow the assistants had created a rock that emitted radiation. Newton tested it but it wasn’t any element that was known. It was an entirely new element or at least a new isotope of an element. They even had a small library. Newton didn’t know where the books came from but they were there.


	13. The Machine

Newton built the machine a month ago and put off going into it untill today. Either one of two things would happen either he would die or his life would change forever. He decided that this would be a massive scientific discovery if it worked. So Newton stepped into the machine.

Well this is going to hurt Newton thought. The needles that were supposed to give him anesthetic and SL had both missed and didn’t hit his body and inject the liquids into him. Instead they spilled the contents on the floor. Unfortunately for him he had put restraints on the machine that would only unlock when the procedure was finished. So that meant no escape what was about to happen.

Newton felt an excruciating pain in the back of his head. First the needle had gone through his skin, then the bone, then into his brain. The brain didn’t hurt it was the bone that didn’t feel great. Then the machine injecting the SL into Newton’s brain and retracted the needle and unlocked the restraints.

Newton fell to the floor. The pain in his head was gone. And he could feel not the cells multiplying in his brain like he expected but the cells merging with the liquid becoming one. He grabbed a book from the bookshelf and opened a random page. He saw words but he felt thoughts he felt every intention the author had in writing that math problem. The he heard a soft “Hey, are you okay” from behind him. He spun around and saw one of the assistants, a frog. Newton’s only thought was “wow, it was telepathy”. The frog replied “I guess it is”. Then Newton realized something. He looked at all the experiments scattered around the room. And realized they were all parts in one big experiment. All the experiments were working to prove something. To prove that the SL made up everything.


	14. Proof

They were almost about to proof it. What they’ve been working towards this whole time this machine was the culmination of their work. The machine consisted of a small chamber at the bottom where a highly dense piece of radioactive material sat. Then a gray cube hung from a string millimeters from the ceiling of the chamber. According to plan when the machine turned on the radioactive material would shake at just the right frequency and the gray cube would liquify into SL.

With great anticipation Newton flicked the switch and the machine started on. The radioactive material started shaking. Then after five long seconds the cube liquified. Everyone cheered for their victory. Then they began to think. If they published their findings then the government would surely weaponize it. Then who knows how many more people would be killed. The creation of super soldiers would sweep the nation. They couldn’t let that happen.


	15. Books

Newton had taken up reading books from the lab’s Library. There were about fifty books in there. All of them where beat up. Ranging from “Physics III” to “Un récit de la révolution française”. Newton plucked the French book off the shelf and began reading. The book was entirely in French. Newton didn’t know any French, but he didn’t need to. He could feel the imprint of the thoughts of the writer in the fabric of reality. Following the words where they went. Planting themselves in the minds of readers.

“Where did all these books come from?” Newton asked the Green Frog.

The Green Frog replied “I don’t know, one day they just started appearing.”

“Weird” said Newton “do you think someone is like breaking into the lab and putting them here”

“That’s pretty unlikely, why would someone break into a lab in the middle of nowhere to give them a beat up book” the Green Frog said

“True” Replied newton

A particularly beat up book caught Newton’s eye. It was a leather journal. All he decipher of what was scratched into the front cover was “Tales from the” then a word he couldn’t make out. Newton opened the book and started reading.


	16. The Tale

Milo was a farmer and a sculptor. He had abandoned his passion for the more promising career of farming. But now his farm was failing. All his crops had died and now he had no income. He went to bed out of sorrow and slept. He found himself in a dream. He couldn’t see, not in the sense of darkness he was completely blind.

“Hello” a voice said

“Hello can you help me” Milo replied scared

“Yes I will be capable of that” the voice replied

“What are you capable of?” Milo asked

“I can heal your crops, send more buyers to you, send you out of this place. All you have to do is one thing.” The voice answered

“Very well, what is it you require of me?. Milo asked

“You must abandon your god and you must put your faith in me.” The voice replied

“Foul demon I will not fall into your cruel tricks. I am a man of god. I serve no one except the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.” Milo said angrily.

“Well then, goodbye for now.” The voice replied

Milo woke up. He was scared, scared of the future of his family, scared of the demon he had encountered. But he had managed to calm himself with the fact he had fought the demon off. This worked until he had the dream again and again. It only took a week for Milo to give into the demon. He was desperate.

“Demon I give into your demands for I have nothing left.” Milo said through tears

Milo felt a searing pain in his hand. He didn’t scream or whimper for he knew both where meaningless here.

“Good, now go kill your family.” The voice replied flatly.

Milo woke up and he could not stop himself from getting out of bed. He could not stop himself from grabbing his scythe. He could not stop himself from doing what the voice commanded him to do.

Milo walked into the morning light and looked at his crops. They were bountiful and ready for harvest. He continued his life as a farmer. And indeed his business was successful and his crops harvestable every morning. He didn’t sleep much anymore. Whenever he did he entered the dream with his demon.

“You will construct an obelisk out of the stone in the center of your fields” the voice commanded

Milo stayed silent until he woke up. He knew when he woke he would have to construct that obelisk. And he was right. When Milo woke he carved an obelisk for three days straight without stopping. He fell asleep in his field when it was done. He went to the dream but the voice said nothing.

Milo was farming when he noticed the figure looking at the obelisk. He went over to them and saw they were made of a thick grey smoke. Suddenly the figure was in front of him. Milo suddenly knew that this being was hated the demon that possessed him. He also knew this being was powerful. Milo begged the being to free him from his demon and wept. Eventually the figures hand was on Milo’s shoulder.

That’s how Milo Lancaster became Death


	17. The Rest Of The Book

Well that was strange Newton thought. A fairytale about the creation of death. The orginal was written in old English but Newton had deciphered it. The fairy tale did not interest him that much it was what lied in the other pages of the book. There were strange diagrams, Words in a cryptic text, Drawings of an obelisk with strange symbols in its sides. But the strangest thing was Newton didn’t understand any of it as if the writer had written it without knowing what they were writing.


	18. And Then The Bombs Dropped

Newton saw the bomber plane headed for the lab. He had sensed it first, the plane had a large amount of the energy the SL was a form of. He went outside could barely see the plane. He got out some binoculars and saw what was obviously a bomber plane. Newton evacuated everybody and all the equipment before the plane reached the lab. Right now they were hiding in a field of very tall grass. Newton watched as something was ejected from the plane. The seconds between when the bomb was ejected and when it hit felt like years but they eventually stopped. Then the lab was gone. A giant hole where it was. Newton’s hiding spot was on the edge of the crater. They moved to a diffrent spot and day turned to night and they slept. But as they fell asleep on question lingered on their minds.

What now?


	19. What Now?

They started walking, only thing they could do really. They had fashioned a cart on which to carry the labs materials. They walked for a long time. Long enough to stop counting the days. Eventually they found a large brick building. Newton knocked on the door. A woman in her late sixties opened the door and a shotgun was pointed at Newton.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” The woman asked

“I-I’m am a scientist, my laboratory was destroyed and I am seeking shelter.” Newton stammered out

“How did your lab get destroyed ?” The woman asked as she lowered her shotgun slightly.

“It was bomber plane. I managed to get everybody out before the bombs fell.” Newton answered

“And what exactly is it you are studying?” The woman asked

“I am studying a strange energy I found, it has the power to shape the world.” Newton replied

“Either you're a nutcase, a scientist with a groundbreaking discovery, or a government agent. Either way I am the one with the shotgun so please come inside.”

So Newton went inside this woman’s home as she said she was the one with the shotgun.

“What is your name?” The woman asked

“Newton, Newton Catcher” Newton answered

“Well Mr. Newton would you care to explain in as much detail as possible how you got here?” The woman asked still pointing her shotgun at Newton

And so Newton did he told her everything.

“I am leaning towards the fact you are a nutcase Mr. Catcher.” The woman told Newton

Newton took a swig from a flask and said “Well shoot me then”

“What?” Asked the woman

“Shoot me in the arm and if it heals then there’s your proof”

A loud bang erupted from the house and into the world


	20. Danielle

“Well I’d be damned” The woman said in astonishment

She had shot Newton’s arm. She had saw it get blown off. But it had regrown, bone and tissue forming before her eyes.

“Now do you believe me?” Newton asked the woman

“I guess I have to” the woman replied

“Now may I ask your name?” Newton asked

“My name is Danielle” Danielle answered

“Ok then Danielle, what’s your story?” Newton questioned

Danielle has been a special effects artist in the 60s and early 70s. When she was seventeen she committed a crime. So she moved out here where the government can’t find her. Newton decided it was best not to inquire about the details of the crime.

“Mr. Catcher I have decided I like you. You and your animals can live on my land and conduct your experiments as long as you put in the work in the farm and house. Is this an agreement?” Danielle asked

“Yes” Newton said as he shook her hand.


	21. The Entire Universe In The Palm Of A Hand

Newton had made another amazing discovery. The SL could transmit and store information. Even better since everything was made of the energy that the SL was made of anything could be used to transmit data. Normal objects could not be used to store any data as their energy was to spread apart to actively store anything.

After a month of waiting it was done. The entire universe was encoded inside a small box. This was a great achievement. Newton had downloaded the area around him then the area around that and he just kept going and now he had the entire universe in the palm of his hand. Though he could do nothing with it. Mapping the data into something meaningful would require a large amount of computing power he did not have the space to build. Still he put the cube in his pocket.


	22. The Farm

Newton had lived with Danielle for a month now. And to do that he had to work on the farm. It was hard work. He had to harvest many different crops. Danielle didn’t own any mechanical equipment so all farming was by hand. And he didn’t even eat the food he harvested, Newton was sustained by the SL. On a good day the crops close to the house would be ready to harvest. On a bad day Newton would have to walk a mile or more to get to the good crops. This was one of the bad days.

Newton woke up. He went to the bathroom and noticed a silver hand mirror in there that he hadn’t noticed before. Then he went outside. Newton sighed, he would be out in the farms for a long time today. He started walking and walked a long time. He finally found good crops he harvested them and began to follow his footprints back. But they didn’t lead back. The just led to more field. Newton felt something close to hunger and took a swig from his now empty flask. He now had a week until he had to feed again. And for now all he had worry about was finding the house.

Well it had been a week. Newton felt the hunger again he wondered how long until he would die of starvation. He had walked everywhere and it was always just more farm. The farm was big but not this big. Newton laid down and decided to stay like that until he died. When suddenly a silver mirror dropped from the sky and hit Newton on the head. He looked at the mirror and then to his side and the house was there.

Newton staggered into the house and up to the lab. He was on the verge of death. Then he drank the SL and he was fine. Danielle ran upstairs.

“Where have you been?” Danielle asked “you had me worried sick!” She exclaimed

“I got lost” was all Newton could manage to say

“Well do you have my beetroot?” Danielle asked

“I do” Newton said as he handed over a bag filled with Beetroot

“Try not to get lost next time.” Danielle said as she left the lab

“So our plan worked” The Blue Frog said

“What, the mirror?” Newton asked

“Yes! We were able to reverse it’s portal energy back into itself and send it to you.” The Blue Frog explained

“Wow thanks guys!” Newton said

Newton ventured far into the farm that week. But he didn’t venture far enough to find the weathered obelisk in the middle of the farm.


	23. Letters To A Sister Part One

Dear Danielle

I hope this letter will find you. I’ve heard the mail system at your college is quite troublesome. Please tell me all about your life in college. Have you gone to any parties?, did you make some friends?, what are you studying?. I want to hear all about it. Write back as soon as you can.

Your sister,

Angelica.

Dear Angelica

Your letter did find me. I would not be writing this one if I hadn’t. Honestly my life in college has been quite boring. I spent all my free time studying. I have not gone to a single party, or made any friends. Sure I’ll say hi to some people who share my classes but I don’t even know their names. Now that I’m writing it down it seems very depressing. Nonetheless the work has paid off. I have a high grade in all my classes. I am studying in the areas required to be a criminal psychologist. Please write back if you receive this letter.

Your sister and friend

Danielle

Dear Danielle

Your college life sounds absolutely dreadful. Please go to a party or at least talk to someone. A criminal psychologist, can’t say I’m surprised. I remember when Dad brought home a stack of books he bought from the closing library. Slowly we each claimed books from the pile until only one remained which the two of us wouldn’t touch. If I remember correctly the book was titled “Lizzy Borden: A Story Of A Murder”. It had a picture of a bloodstained axe on its cover. You picked it up and started reading and wouldn’t stop until it was time to sleep.

Your sister

Angelica

Dear Angelica

I took your advice. I went to a party! The music was so loud. And people dancing everywhere. I felt very uncomfortable. I retreated to the kitchen where four people were conversing. I chimed in to the conversation occasionally, until one by one people left. Soon it was only me and a blonde girl. The blonde girl asked me if I wanted to see something cool and I said sure. She began peeling the skin off her face and I wanted to scream but couldn’t. Soon she had peeled everything off and it was not a she but a he. He explained that he was a makeup artist doing an experiment for his sociality class on how men and women were treated differently. He had gathered enough information and was going to leave the party. He said I was much nicer than most people at the party and we exchanged mailbox numbers.

Your sister

Danielle


	24. Letters To A Sister Part Two

Dear Danielle

Finally you stepped outside of your studying bubble. I hope the social interaction did you some good. But here is a question for you, can you name this mysterious student that you met at the party?

With love

Angelica

Dear Angelica

Yes I can name him, his name is Marcus. A week ago we went to get coffee. We ended up in a used bookstore. We didn’t find any books we fancied so we left. That’s when I noticed an alleyway next to the bookshop. I suggested we go down it. Marcus agreed to this plan also. Midway through the alley Marcus spotted something. He went to grab it and yelped in pain and threw the object. Marcus said it was a metal amulet engraved with a drawing of an obelisk. He said it was extremely hot, which I attributed to the fact it had been sitting in the sun all day. Marcus wrapped his hand in his jacket and put the amulet in his pant pocket. When we reached the end of the alley it was just a road. So we both went back to campus and to our separate destinations.

Your sister

Danielle

P.S I found that Lizzie Borden book you mentioned in one of your letters

Dear Danielle

My sister went on a date. Wow! If I recall correctly this is the first date you went on since that Todd fellow in your first year of high school. Need I remind you of the embarrassing details of that date. I needn’t. That medallion raised an interest in me. Remeber how one of dads friends owned a small museum. I think I remeber seeing that medallion in his collection. But maybe it’s just my mind fabricating memories.

Yours truly

Angelica

Dear Angelica

It was not a date. We simply went as friends and nothing more. And no you do not have to embarrass me by relaying the awkward events of that date. Funny I do not recall any of dads friends owning a museum. Nonetheless maybe my mind is playing a trick on me.

Your sister

Danielle

Dear Danielle

Well I guess if you say it wasn’t a date then it wasn’t a date. I’m still glad you made a friend though. Oh no. As I am writing this letter I have just received word of the fire that destroyed an entire building of dormitories. I can only hope that you were not injured in this fire.

With prayers

Angelica

Dear Angelica

The fire luckily did not destroy my building. Unfortunately though it destroyed Marcus’s. The police suspect it was a gas leak that started the fire. The people that got out were moved to temporary housing off campus. They have not released how many people were injured or killed in the fire. I have no way to contact Marcus for I do not know where he is and the police are not giving me that information.

Your worried sister

Danielle


	25. Burned Words

Newton was confusd to say the least. He had found these letters in a box under a secret panel in a locked drawer in Danielles desk. But they seemed pretty tame. The only weird thing was the amulet and the fire. Obelisks seemed to be a recurring theme here. But what purpose did they serve. Then there was the fire. It all could have just been an accident. But it was so suspicious. The people just dissapered. And that Lizzie Borden book. Newton felt like he knew the book from somewhere. Was he missing something. Newton checked the letter box again and underneath all the letters he saw a small burned piece of paper. There were 4 small burned pieces of paper underneath the letters. The pieces of paper had words on them plan,the air, element, Mon. Newton tried and tried to think of a way these could be used together but he couldn’t think of any way they made sense. He could only sense thoughts if the whole thought was there. Defeated he went to sleep

Newton woke up to the daylight hitting his face. And he knew where he would get his next clue. He ran to the bookshelf that housed the 101 books of the labs library. They had stopped coming after they moved in with Danielle. He searched the shelf’s until he found the book he was looking for “Lizzie Borden: A Story Of A Murder”


	26. Questions

Newton cracked open the front cover of the book slowly. And there on the inside faded but still readable the name “Danielle C.”. Newton was certain he had gotten this book at the original lab. But somehow his hosts name was in this book. He couldn’t confront her about it because she would probably just take it from him as it is technically her property. Then he would have no answers.

“I hope this isn’t to invasive but how old are you?” Newton asked Danielle as he chopped some carrots

“I am about 66 years old, now the question is how old are you Newton? Danielle answered and asked

So that would place the year of her crime between the late 60s and early 70s Newton thought

“I’m 19 years old.” Newton answered

“Any other questions Newton?” Danielle asked

“Yes actually, do you have a last name?” Newton inquired

“Nope never have had one.” Danielle answered

Well that was a lie, Newton thought. Unless the “C.” next to her first name in the book meant something else but Newton doubted that. Danielle was hiding something Newton was sure of that. But why was she hiding it was the real question.


	27. What Danielle C. Did

Newton had been working at this for a month now and was only an inch closer to solving it. He had set up a string board in a crawl space like a conspiracy theorist. He really wished he had access to the internet. Right now he was harvesting carrots which he would bring back home and leave them on the dining table. Then he would go to his crawl space and try again to solve this mystery.

Newton had placed the carrots down and headed up. He realized he left the lights on in his crawlspace. Newton entered his crawlspace and was greeted by the face of Danielle. Newton jumped.

“Impressive what you’ve managed to put together.” Dainelle said

“I guess I’m getting kicked out.” Newton said sheepishly

“No no far from it” Danielle replied

“Can you please explain to what’s going on?” Newton asked

“I believe you have to work for your answers.” “You’ve done plenty of working it’s time you get some answers.” Danielle explained

“Ok what crime did you commit?” Newton asked

“I pulled off a great heist. Or according to the media D.B Cooper did” Danielle answered


	28. Danielle Cooper

“Y-You’re D.B Cooper?” Newton managed to ask in his confusion

“Yes that’s correct” Danielle answered

“But, just, how?” Newton asked

“That Newton is a very long and complex story and we should probably get out of this cramped crawlspace for” Danielle answered

So they did they went over to the living room and Danielle began her story

It was a week after the fire that destroyed the dorms. Danielle was desperately trying to find Marcus. When she got a package it was a journal and a note. The note read “i hopE this note finds you danielle in good health. i am Still a bit shaken up from the fire so I apologize for the bad pEnmanship on this letteR. We that BEING me and THE survivors of the fire. are living in great HomEs. I am sorry i caN’t give you more Details. i can telL you this the Police are inveStigatiting the incidENt for arson. WE ARE happy here.” And the journal contained every tip and trick for special effect makeup that Marcus had ever found. And an in depth instruction on how to appear to be the opposite gender. Reading that section Danielle had an idea. She was a broke college student and had recently lost her job. She was desperate for any money. She spent three months planning and practicing in her disguise. Right before the heist Danielle sent a letter to her sister explaining everything and asked her to burn it when she was done reading. Then the time came for the actual plane jacking and she nailed every detail of the it. Afterwards she became a nomad for a couple of years wandering lands and living off the wilderness. Eventually she was declared legally dead. She liked the nomad life. Then she came across the farm she offered the farmer $6000 dollars for it and when she gave him the money he just started walking off. She didn’t care it meant less legal stuff to deal with. Before the farmer left Danielle asked him if there was a way to send mail in the farm. The farmer said yes and pointed to an eagle. Then he kept walking and Danielle never saw him again. But she took the only advice she got from him and wrote a letter to her sister explaining she was still alive and wanted some of the stuff back her sister got in her will. She sent the eagle with it and surprisingly the eagle came back with a letter from her sister. eventually the siblings agreed on a rendezvous. When Danielle got there her stuff was in a pile and her sister left a note. She couldn’t bare to look at it but she stuffed it into her pocket. Then she headed to the farm and that’s where she’s been for decades now.


	29. Missing And Twice Found

Life on the farm continued as normal. Newton had no way to expose Danielle even if he wanted to. There was no internet, no phone, the letter eagle had died a few years after Danielle moved in. The nearest building was 30 miles away. So Newton just lived with the fact that he was living with one of the most elusive and wanted criminals in history.

Newton had decided to turn the focus of his research to the portals and strange realm they led to. So Newton found the machine and realized the key wasn’t inside it. Newton remembered he had taken the key out of the machine to clean up some of the portal liquid he had spilled. He got called over to help with something and left the key on a table. He forgot to grab it before the lab was bombed. Newton had a hunch that the key had survived but the ruins of the lab were an unfathomable distance away. Newton came to terms with the fact he wouldn’t find the lab again. So no portals.

Newton had just gotten home. It was pouring rain outside. He set the corn on the table and dried his hair with his jacket. Then he heard the voice of Danielle from her room

“Newton I’ve found something weird”

“What is it?” Newton asked

Danielle then entered the room with two books and laid them on the table. They were both copies of “Lizzie Borden: The Story Of A Murder” one was significantly more beaten up then the other.

“I took this book from your little conspiracy crawlspace. A few days after that I went to put it on my bookshelf and I saw I already had it.” “Then I realized something strange” said Danielle as she opened both books.

Inside the front cover of the books were two identical signatures “Danielle C."


	30. SEND HELP

“Huh, that is weird” Newton said hunched over two identical books

“Where did you get this book?” Danielle asked

“It just appeared one day, like all the books I have” Newton answered

Newton picked up the less beaten up book and a piece of paper fell out. Newton caught it and started reading the words on it. It was the note from Marcus to Danielle, Newton realized that Marcus had placed a code in this letter. The capital letters were an anagram “WE ARE BEING KEPT IN THE SEWER SEND HELP”

“I could have helped him” said Danielle as she held back tears

Newton had told her about the encoded message.

“Look Danielle I don’t really know what your going through but if there’s anything I can do to help please tell me” Newton said

“I want to go into those sewers. Do what Marcus asked of me” Danielle

“I’m trying to be supportive here but how will get to a city, you specifically picked this place for it’s isolation”

“The tunnels” Danielle said

“Tunnels?” Newton asked

“The entrance to them is at a weird sculpture in the middle of the farm, they can take you to the nearest city with an airport in thirty minutes” Danielle answered

“But how? the nearest inhabited building is 30 miles away from here” Newton asked

“Beats me. You’re the one with the animals with telepathy and regrowing limbs” Danielle replied

“Fair” Newton responded


	31. The Tunnels

Two people were walking in a field that stretched for miles. These people were named Newton and Danielle. They had spent last night making a plan and gathering materials. They were almost at the destination that would put their plan in motion.

“How come you never told me about these tunnels?” Newton asked

“I honestly wasn’t sure I could trust you, I’m still not sure but I guess I have to” Danielle replied

“So how long until we get to these tunnels?” Newton replied

“We’re getting close. It should only be a couple more minutes” Danielle said

A couple minutes passed and the two stood before a weathered and crumbling obelisk

“Strange, an obelisk” Newton said

“Why’s it strange?” Danielle asked

“Obelisks seem to be a recurring theme in this mystery” Newton answered

Newton brushed his hand against the obelisk. A piece reminiscent of an arrowhead fell off. Newton picked it up and in his hand it acted in the manner of a compass needle. Pointing itself towards a direction. Newton put the piece in his pocket next to a small box.

Near the obelisk there was a circle with no plant life growing on it. Danielle lifted this circle up and it led into a dark space. Danielle climbed in and Newton followed.

“It’s dark in here” Newton observed

“Well we better get used to it because that’s all we’re gonna see for the next thirty minutes” Danielle quipped

“What if we get lost?” Newton asked

“I don’t think getting lost is possible here. I’ve gone in these tunnels many times going many different routes and still ended up in the same place” Danielle answered

They walked in silence for the rest of the trip. Occasionally making small talk. But the conversation always fizzled out. Eventually the came to the end of the tunnels. A door stood at the end. Danielle opened it and light flooded into the tunnels.


	32. Full Circle

“Ouch, my eyes” said Newton as light flooded in the tunnels

As Newton’s eyes adjusted from the pitch black darkness he realized where he was.

“Oh wow. It all connects” Newton muttered to himself

“Huh?” Asked Danielle

“This is the alley that started the set of events that led to me finding the farm” Newton answered

“Hold on, do you happen to know the address of this place?” Danielle asked

“Nope sorry, there’s a bookshop at the end of it called Vertical Books if that helps”

“This is the alley where Marcus found that amulet” Danielle said

“Huh strange. So that means the campus is close to here.” Newton said

“Well” Danielle said awkwardly

“What?” Newton asked

“I may have forgotten to write in my letter that we took a plane to go get coffee” Danielle said

“May I ask why?” Newton asked

“There may have been some crimes committed that I didn’t want any ways to be tracable back to me” Danielle said

“I’m not even sure what I should even say to that” Newton said

“Relax, they weren't that bad” Danielle said

“Ok. We should focus on how we’re going to board an airplane or other transportation method when we’re both legally dead” Newton said

“Oh I know someone” Danielle said


	33. Welding

Two people talked and walked through a city. The person named Danielle led the way.

“What’s that thing that person is holding?” Danielle asked

“That’s a smart phone. You can call and text people on it. It can also access this thing called the internet. It’s basically-“ Newton said

Cutting out Newton Danielle said “I know what the internet is”

“It’s advanced a lot since your time” Newton said

“I’m sure it has” Danielle replied

Danielle turned suddenly into a small pathway. Newton followed they ended up at a cluster of buildings. The one they were facing had a rusted sign reading “Phoenix Welding” with a drawing of a Phoenix next to the words.

“Looks worse than last time I was here” Danielle said

The two people went inside. Inside there was a messy workshop where someone with a welding mask sat welding two pieces of metal together. There was loud low quality polka music playing from a boombox.

“I’m here to pick up order 337f” Danielle said fighting to be loud enough than the polka music

The person in the welding mask turned off the music and led Danielle into a back room. Thirty minutes later Danielle came back with all the papers required to board an airplane.


	34. Plane Ride

Newton was on a plane and he was sweating bullets. He and the person he boarded with Danielle were both legally dead. So Newton had good reason to worry. The person seated next to them was also very talkative. This actually wasn’t a bad thing really. Newton had only talked to Danielle for a long time and it gave him something to distract himself with.

“I’ve been getting into true crime recently” the person said

“Cool” Newton replied

“The D.B Cooper case was really got me into it. I’ve been interested in that since I was a kid” the person said

Newton chuckled softly “I’ve been really invested in that case myself these past few months”

“So what do you think happened to him?” The person asked

Newton contemplated for a moment and said “I think it actually was a woman who disguised herself. She made the landing with a few bruises and found a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and has been living there ever since.”

“Ha. That’s crazy talk. I think it was aliens” the person said

“Aliens?” Newton asked

“After he jumped he almost died or died or lived. Doesn’t matter some aliens came up and abducted him. It explains why he disappeared without a trace.”

“Interesting stance. So any other things you want to talk about?” Newton asked

“I’ve been doing some urban exploration. Nothing big just a few abandoned buildings.” The person said

“Oh cool. The reason I’m on this plane is so I can go explore a sewer system. Want to come?” Newton asked

“Sure sounds fun. I don’t really know why I’m on this plane. Won a free airplane ticket and picked a random flight. Figured I’d find something to do wherever I ended up. So here I am” The person said

“Well I think you’ve found your something. I’m sorry but we haven’t introduced ourselves. My names Newton, yours?” Newton asked

“My name is Phil” Phil said

“Ok, I’m going to try and get some sleep now” said Newton

Newton managed to fall asleep and had a strange dream.

He was standing in a field. In the center of the field there was an obelisk. He heard a faint voice.

“You’re an interesting one Newton. It was very hard to get into your mind and I doubt I will be able to do it again. It seems to have taken a liking to you. I won’t lie to you and say that doing nothing is a choice. You’ll have to do something eventually. Or something will do it for you. This might not make much sense at the moment but I promise it will.” The voice said

Then Newton woke up. Most of the passengers of the plane had left. Danielle was standing near his seat contemplating whether to wake him. Newton and Danielle then got their things and exited the plane.


	35. Hotel

“Hey dude you finally woke up” Phil said to Newton

“Huh?” Newton asked

“After the plane landed I waited for like ten minutes for you too stop sleeping than decided to wait out here” Phil explained

“Oh ok” Newton said

“So who’s this your traveling with?” Phil asked

“Phil this is my friend Danielle. Danielle this is my friend I just met a couple hours ago Phil” Newton answered

“Nice to meet you Phil” Danielle said

“Nice to meet you too” Phil said

“It’s getting late we should find someplace to stay” Newton said

The group found a hotel near the sewer entrance they were going to enter in the morning.

“Welcome to the Grey Hotel. We’re having a buy one one person room get one free deal right now” Said a teenager who looked very tired and was trying to put on a customer service demeanor but slightly failing.

“Well I guess I’ll take three one person rooms for one night please” Newton said

“That will be $200” The teenager said

“No identification or something?” Newton asked

“Look dude my shift ended ten minutes ago. I’m tired and hate my job and could care less about proper guest sign in protocol. Do you want the room or not”

“Yeah I’ll take the room” Newton said awkwardly

“Sorry man for bursting out on you. I’ve been going through some tough times lately” The teenager said

“No problem dude. Sometimes we’ve just gotta vent to someone” Newton said

“Thanks for understanding. Anyways here’s your rooms keys” The teenager replied

“Ok I guess I better go then” Newton said

“What was that whole thing?” Danielle asked

“I don’t know. I guess I can just understand people more now” Newton replied

“Hey whatcha you guys talking about?” Phil asked

“Just stuff I guess” Newton said

“Cool. I’ve been reading through this pamphlet and apparently this place has this giant garden” Phil replied

“Well we can go check that out in the morning, right now I need sleep” Newton said

“I second that” Danielle replied

Newton tried to sleep but he couldn’t. He felt something calling to him from within the hotel. So he followed the calling. It led him into the center of the garden. He looked up at the beautiful glass dome ceiling. It’s pattern was a large circle in the center. Then wavy lines branching from it. Newton felt safe here. Newton looked down and at his feet was a dagger. The dagger was made of a pitch black material, it’s sheath no different. Newton unsheathed it and marveled at how dark it was. It was like looking at a black hole. Newton then went back to his room and slept well for the rest of the night.


	36. Rough Day

Newton woke up and looked at the dagger he clutched in his hand. So it wasn’t a dream. Newton put the dagger in his pocket and did his morning routine. After that he went and waited in the lobby.

“Hey there’s breakfast in the dining area now” Said a cheerful voice from the front desk

“Thanks but I’m not hungry right now” Newton replied

Newton heard a door slam and looked up. It was the teenager that Newton had encountered last night. The teenager slumped down beside Newton.

“Rough day?” Newton asked

“Just quit my job so yeah rough day” The teenager said

“So what now?” Newton asked

“No real clue, I don’t have really anywhere to go. Could I maybe hang with you and your friends for a while?” The teenager asked

“I know the feeling. Sure you can stay with us.” Newton said

“Thank you, you really don’t know how much this means for me” the teenager replied

“So what’s your name?” Newton asked

“Knox, yours?” Knox replied

“Newton” Newton said


	37. Sewer

Four friends walked out of a hotel with nothing but a few backpacks between them:

“So where exactly are we headed?” Asked Knox

“Autumn college” Newton replied

“Oh cool I studied engineering there for a year” Knox said

“Cool” Newton replied

“Why are we going there?” Knox asked

“We’re exploring the sewer system there” Newton answered

The friends walked for a while talking amongst themselves. Eventually they got to the campus and found a sewer entrance. They went in.

“Why doesn’t this place smell don’t sewers usually do that?” Phil asked

Newton shrugged and said “No clue”

“There’s also no water or sludge here” Danielle said

“Huh that is weird” Newton replied

Newton felt something shifting around in his pocket and took it out. It was the rock that had fallen off the obelisk in the farm. It was pointing somewhere.

“I think we should go that way” Newton said as he pointed the way the rock was pointing

“Sure dude lets do it” Danielle replied


	38. Aliens?, Maybe

They had been walking for about fifteen minutes before they found something. It was a small scrap of cloth. Before this the sewer had been spotless. Everyone had noticed that but no one spoke up about it.

“Hey guys I found something” Knox said

“Huh a piece of cloth. Weird” Newton said pointing his flashlight at it

“It looks like it was torn off” Danielle replied

“Oh lord. Guys there’s bloodstains here” Phil said in a scared tone

“They’re not fresh. Probably years old” Danielle observed

“I think we should keep walking” Knox said

“Yeah I don’t really like the vibes here” Danielle replied

As they walked the stone Newton held started vibrating.

“Is the tunnel getting more square or is it just me” Phil said

“I think it is getting squarer” Newton replied

They walked and eventually they came across a series of doors. Each door was a couple feet apart and they were on both sides of the hallway. Newton gripped the knife in his pocket and Danielle took out a revolver.

“Where did you get that?” Newton asked

“You have no idea how many weapons I have on me right now” Danielle replied

Danielle opened the door and inside was a chair and two metal arms with circular disks on the end of them hung from the ceiling. The disk sat where the person sitting in the chairs forehead would be.

“What is this” Newton said

“Guys, I think I’ve figured it out” Phil said

“You have?” Danielle asked

“It’s aliens. Seriously it makes sense” Phil answered

“You know what Phil I’m starting to think it might be aliens also” Newton replied

They left that room and went to the next. It was the same. And so was the next one. Slowly they made their way through the hallway, checking every door. Eventually the hallway stopped and two more identical hallways branched off from it.

“I think we should split our group. Phil and Knox you’re go that way. I’ll go this way with Danielle.” Newton said


	39. What Newton and Danielle Found

They had been walking for a little bit. They had stopped checking doors a short while ago. The stone had started shaking harder. Occasionally they’d find a tiny piece of paper or a bit of mud on the floor. Other than that it was spotless. Danielle has been marking their trail by digging into the wall with a pocketknife.

“So what do you think of the new members of our group?” Newton asked

“Phil’s okay, he can get a little annoying sometimes. Knox is good, they remind me of one of my friends I had back when life was normal.” Danielle replied

“I’m pretty sure that Phil thinks you may be D.B Cooper” Newton replied

“Why would he think that?” Danielle asked

“I may or may not have told him my “theory” on how D.B Cooper was a woman in disguise” Newton answered

“Good lord Newton. Next time I see Phil I’m telling him my theory on how D.B Cooper’s son is spreading false stories about D.B Cooper to throw people off” Danielle said

“Fair enough” Newton replied

“So exactly weapons do you carry on you?” Newton asked

“Enough” Danielle replied

“This place is creeping me out” Newton said

“Me too” Danielle replied

Groaning noises come from behind a door. A dim green light glows from the bottom of the door. Newton and Danielle stand staring at the door.

“Do we really want to see what’s behind that door?” Newton asked

“I don’t think we want to know. But I think we have to.” Danielle replied

“Yes, I think you’re right” Newton said as he pushed open the door

Inside was a man sitting in the chair. He looked slightly below average like someone who had pulled an all-nighter and had to operate with no caffine. The metal disks were on his forehead.

“MARCUS” Danielle exclaimed

Marcus did not hear Danielle. But Marcus felt Danielle pull the disks off his head. Marcus felt himself fall from the chair he had been sat for forty years.

“Marcus, wha-how what’s going on” Danielle asked very confused

“Th- It’s grasp is still holding me. I’ll say what I can.” Marcus replied

“What is it?” Danielle asked

“It’s powerful and both of you are important to it. I tried to becom- I tried t- I did something and now it’s grasp on me has lessened” Marcus answered

“Newton can’t you do your thought superpower thing on him” Danielle asked

“I can’t. His words weren’t created from thoughts” Newton answered

“What is going on” Newton asked Marcus

Marcus eyes turned to a thick smoke and he began to say “Do not equate this to a game of chess. Chess is stable in its platform and rules. There are kings to check and grandmasters to check th- Choices will have good and bad outcomes for everybody so who’s to say one choice is better than anothe- a hockey puck slung at the finger of your opponent preventing him from moving a piece but giving him the hockey puc- You cannot not chose. Beacuse the act of not choosing is an act of itsel- This isn’t chess, it’s a seemingly infinite unwinnable game- This begs the question do our choices matter if we don’t control if we make them”

Marcus’ form began to twist and turn in ways that shouldn’t have been possible. He became the essence of two beings in turmoil and that was Marcus that was what he had been for so long. When suddenly the beings weren’t in turmoil and that wasn’t Marcus and so Marcus wasn’t there anymore.


	40. What Knox and Phil Found

“It’s aliens I keep telling you” Phil said

“Ok dude” Said Knox half listening

They had been walking for a while. The whole time Phil was ranting about aliens. There was a thin line of green light on the wall and they were following that. Then the light went out. Then a square hole in the wall opened and a spider like robot crawled out and the hole in the wall closed.

“Stage Two Complete. Starting Stage Three. error all authorized personal off-site, does the nearest human accept the temporary position of Authorized Personal” the robot said

“Uuhhh. I guess” Phil said

The robot began crawling on the side of the wall and eventually stopped. It pushed its legs into the wall and the wall split away revealing an obelisk with a golden amulet embedded in its center

“Stage Three retrieve the amulet” The Robot said

And Phil did retrieve the amulet. As he did many dark and disturbing thoughts flooded his head. All he had to do to make them stop was to pledge his mind and body to the being doing this to him. He said yes

“Hey dude you good” Knox asked

“Yes I am perfectly fine” Phil answered


	41. A Choice

Danielle was crying. What ever happened to Marcus was the tipping point for her. Newton was crying also. He didn’t know why.

“Is he dead” Danielle asked

“I don’t think so. I don’t know what happened but I don’t think he died” Newton answered

“We should go find the others” Danielle said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“So what do we do now?” Knox asked

“We wait” Phil replied

“For what” Knox asked

“For the other ones in the group” Phil answered

“Shouldn’t we go to the rendezvous point” Knox asked

“We won’t be able to find our way back now” Phil said

Knox gave him a look that said “what are you talking about”

“You can go try. Nothing is stopping you” Phil said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newton and Danielle had been trying to follow the trail they left but were so far unsuccessful. The hallways weren’t symmetrical anymore. It was more a maze now.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere trying to find the trail. Any ideas on how to get out of here?” Danielle said

Suddenly the stone Newton had been carrying fell on to the ground and began sliding forwards.

“Maybe we should follow that” Newton said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“They’re getting closer” Phil said without looking up

“Whatever you are, you’re not Phil” Knox said

“Very observant of you” Phil said sarcastically

“What did you do to Phil?” Knox asked

“He’ll be fine. Or he won’t. It won’t be up to me to decide” Phil said

“I won’t let you get away with whatever you’re doing” Knox said

“You might. But would that really accomplish anything” Phil said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The stone had stopped moving in front of an opening in the wall. Newton could see that the opening led into a room where Phil was standing next to an obelisk. Newton walked through the doorway and it folded in on itself, like the tunnel in the beings realm that lead to the temple. Newton found himself in a blank white void the only things in there were a door and Phil.

“Phil are you alright?” Newton asked

“Please do not call me by my vessels name” Phil said

“Where are the others?” Newton asked

“Oh they’re here. But they’re just spectating for the time being” Phil answered

“Why am I here?” Newton asked

“There are two ways for that door to open. You either open it yourself or you stab this vessel with the dagger in your pocket” Phil said

“Why would stabbing you open the door?” Newton asked

“That knife will banish me from this body” Phil replied

“Will it kill Phil?” Newton asked

“It will do as much damage to him as a regular knife” Phil answered

Newton thought for a moment and asked “why did you tell me that the knife will banish you?”

“Beacuse then you will have made a choice. You will have picked a side” Phil answered

“I’ve had enough of your mental games” Said Newton as he stabbed Phil in the leg

Phil started cackling. Newton fell to whatever was acting as ground. He felt tendrils reaching into his very essence starting from where he had grasped the knife. Then he suddenly in his mind he had blueprints for a machine.


	42. What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into

Newton opened his eyes and looked around. He saw he was in the farm. He was laying on his bed. He couldn’t remeber the last time he had used his bed. He didn’t need to sleep anymore, he tried to sleep many times, sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't, but now he had accepted the truth that he no longer had to sleep. Danielle noticed he was awake and walked over to him.

“Hey you finally woke up” Danielle said

“How long was I out?” Newton asked

“About nine hours” Danielle answered

“Jesus Christ, that’s not normal” Newton replied

“So what do you remember?” Danielle asked

“I remember stabbing Phil. Then I felt really weird. It felt like tendrils were reaching inside my soul. Then the blueprints of this machine inserted themselves into my mind. I don’t know what this machine does but I feel like I should create it.” Newton answered

“Well that’s… something. Do you want to hear what happened after you passed out?” Danielle asked

“Yes” Newton said

“Before you stabbed Phil we were in this weird ghost state. We couldn’t move and it didn’t look like you could hear or see us. But when you stabbed him the door flung open and we were able to move again. Phil was screaming in pain. I went to go checkout his leg and he was mostly fine. Knox checked on you and you were completely out. So I slung you over my shoulder. All of us went to door next. I realized it led to the tunnels underneath the farm. When we all went through the door slammed shut and disappeared. We walked to the farm and I bandaged Phil up with a spare first aid kit I had. Then I told him he could take the tunnel to a city and get better help. He was in a hurry to leave and I can’t blame him.” Danielle explained

Newton chuckled and said “what have we gotten ourselves into”

“Hey what’s going on with your hand?” Danielle asked

Newton looked at his hand and saw small blue particles moving from fingertip to fingertip. Newton felt like these particles were a part of him. He was able to control them to an extent. He formed a small cluster of them in the middle of his hand. He then absorbed them back into his body.


	43. Questions

“Hey you alright?” Newton asked Knox

“Oh you’re awake. I guess I’m alright. Right now I’m just trying to process what happened.” Knox replied

“If you want to leave I understand” Newton said

“I don’t want to leave” Knox said

“Why don’t you?” Newton asked

“I feel like I need answers” Knox answered

“I have a journal that I’ve been writing my findings in. That should answer some of your questions. It’s with Danielle I think so I guess ask her for it.” Newton replied

“Thanks, I’ll do that” Knox said

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“So how’s your reading been” Newton asked Knox

“I’m halfway through it. It’s like every question that gets answered ten more open” Knox said

“Yeah that’ll happen” Newton replied

“Yeah” Knox said

“Hey do you want to help me and Danielle build something?” Newton asked

“Sure. What are we building” Knox said

“I don’t really know what it is. The design for it came to me when I was passed out” Newton said

“Huh that’s weird. I guess everything is these days” Knox replied

“Yeah. Well I should let you get back to reading” Newton said

“Ok, bye” Knox said


	44. Constructing The Machine

They had been constructing the machine for an hour now. The day before Danielle had went to the city and gathered the necessary materials for the machine. It was a mess of many things. There was a furby that had wires connecting to a Commodore 64 monitor. Newton wired a camera to a tape recorder. Then the machine started humming. There was no power source connected to it.

“Hey is it supposed to do that?” Knox asked

“Like I said I don’t know what it does” Newton answered

“I meant like by the laws of physics” Knox said

Then the dagger Newton stabbed Phil with came flying towards the machine. It started floating above the machine. And started spinning gaining speed until it was moving extremely fast.

“My god that thing almost hit me” Danielle said

“I think the machine is emitting some sort of energy” Newton said

“Why do you think that?” Danielle asked

“I don’t know I can kinda just feel it I guess” Newton answered

“Hey guys this monitor is doing something weird” Knox said

The monitor was printing seemingly random strings of numbers. Then one by one more parts of the machine turned on. There was a radio playing, pistons going up and down, Newton felt his watch being pulled by a magnet, a rotary phone was ringing. Newton picked it up and put the phone to his ear. He heard sounds that smelled like the ocean. Newton hung up. The humming was getting louder. Then it stopped suddenly. Newton looked at the monitor the words “Task Complete” were printed at the bottom. There was a button on the machine. Newton pushed it. A blinding light came from within the machine. Then a great burst of energy exploded from the machine. Newton and the others were thrown backwards by this. After they gathered themselves they looked up. Where the machine once was now was a large building.


	45. The Building

“should we go inside?” Newton asked

“I don’t see why not” Danielle said

The group walked inside and found themselves in a large room, inside of which were a number of people in cloaks standing around a large circular machine that was emitting a strange light.

“Hey what’s going on here?” Newton asked the people in cloaks

“We are remodeling the building” the people in cloaks said in unison

“What does that mean?” Newton asked

“Our time in this place is done. It’s your turn now.” The people in cloaks said in unison

“So how long until the remodeling is done?” Newton asked

“Approximately an hour” The people in cloaks said in unison.

“So can me and my friends explore this building before it’s remodeled?” Newton asked

“Sure, just make sure you’re out before the remodeling happens” The people in cloaks said in unison

“Aight then bye” Newton said and walked away towards a hallway

“What the hell was that?” Knox asked

“I don’t really know. I trust them though for what it’s worth” Newton said

“No not that. You just stared at them for like three minutes then you walked away” Knox replied

“Oh I forgot you don’t have telepathy” Newton said

“And you do?” Knox asked

“Yes, isn’t it in the journal I gave you?” Newton said

“Oh I probably haven’t gotten there yet” Knox said

“You’ll get used to him doing it, he talks to those animals all the time” Danielle said

“You can talk to the animals, you no what never mind right now. What did you talk to those people about?” Knox asked

“Oh they’re doing some remodeling on this building and then giving it to us for some reason. The remodeling is supposed to be done in like fifty-five minutes now. Until then we can explore this building” Newton said

“Well let’s do some exploring” Danielle said

They opened a door in the hallway and inside was a long rectangular room with an altar in the center of it. The altar was covered with many small images of different places in the world.

“Huh weird” Knox said

“All of the pictures have a bright light in them” Newton said.

Newton pocketed one of them, it was a picture of a crowded subway station but if you looked closer someone was staring straight at the camera. Their eyes were shining with that light.

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this room. I think we should go.” Knox said

“Agreed” Danielle said

The group walked out into the hallway again and tried another door. Inside this one was an elevator. They all went in and Danielle pressed the button labeled “3”. The elevator started to move and eventually it stopped. They all got out of the elevator and looked around and saw they were in a giant library.

“This is amazing” Newton said

“Woah this place has got to be at least like three acres” Danielle said

“Wow” Knox said

Newton pulled a book off a shelf and opened the cover it was a book with no title. It was full of pictures of cities, landscapes, mountains, trees. On the left to the bottom of one of the pages was a line that read “No one goes here” Newton put down the book and checked his watch.

“We should leave now” Newton said

“Why?” Knox asked

“We don’t want to be here when the remodeling happens” Newton answered

“Okay” Knox replied

The group took the elevator back up. Then they went down the hallway into the main room and saw the light the machine was emitting was brighter. They left quickly and watched the building from the outside.

“So how long until this remodeling” Danielle asked

“About thirty seconds” Newton answered

Thirty seconds passed. Then a crack appeared in the building bright light flowed through it. Newton felt a burning sensation in his pocket. He took out the picture of the subway and saw the persons eyes we’re glowing brighter than ever. More cracks appeared in the building and more light flowed through them. Eventually the light cleared and there was a different building standing there.


	46. The Lab

“Well that was strange” Knox said

“Yeah it definitely was. Let’s go see what’s inside” Danielle replied

The group went inside the new building. Inside was a proper laboratory with all sorts of equipment. But the thing that caught everyone’s attention was the giant computer console at the end of the room. The circular remodeling machine was in the center of the room. The people that activated it were nowhere to be found. Newton went up and inspected one of the many machines that were around the lab. It displayed a map of the Earth. Every now and then a dot would appear on the map and disappeared. Knox went up to the computer console. As soon as they walked up to it the large screen blinked on. Knox turned a dial on the console and the temperature of the lab dropped. Danielle looked at a machine where a dodecahedron was suspended in air above it.

“This is amazing” Danielle said

“Guys there’s a door here” Newton said

Above the door it was labeled “Living Quarters”. The group opened the door and inside was a hallway with some doors on its sides. The group opened another door and inside was a bedroom.

“I’m going to get some sleep. It’s been a long day” Knox said

“Me too” Danielle replied

“I’m just gonna hang out in the laboratory” Newton said

Newton went around looking at all the machines in the lab. He had no idea what any of them did. Finally he went over to the computer. He experimented a little bit and found out somewhat how to use the computer. He navigated to a menu labeled “Manuals”. Inside was a list of files, Newton clicked on one and an instruction manual for one of the machines popped up on the screen. Newton started reading.


	47. The Glove

Knox walked outside after they woke up. They saw Newton hunched over a desk. Pieces of technology were scattered across the desk.

“Hey whatcha doing?” Knox asked

“Oh I’m working on this glove” Newton answered

On Newton’s hand was a metal mechanical glove.

“What does it do?” Knox asked

“This” Newton said as a beam of blue light came out of the glove and reached for a glass of liquid. The liquid was grabbed by the beam and floated towards Newton.

“Not even gonna ask how that’s possible. Have you slept at all?” Knox said

“I don’t need to sleep” Newton replied

Danielle came out of her room and said to Newton “Dude your animals are still at the farm”

“Oh shoot” said Newton as he started running out the door

“Is there any water here” Knox asked Danielle

“There’s a water fountain in the bedrooms” Danielle replied

“Cool beans, thanks” Knox said

“No problem” Danielle replied

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Newton arrived at the farm after running for a while. He opened the d-oor and went upstairs.

“Where have you been?” One of the lizards asked

“Long story. You guys have to come see what we’ve found” Said Newton as he picked up all the animals with the glove

Newton and the animals eventually reached the lab and went inside.

“Wow” The Red Frog said

“It’s amazing isn’t it” Newton said

“Hey Newton what’s up with this mirror on your desk?” Knox asked

“Did you touch or even look at it?” Newton asked

“Nope, Why?” Knox said

“Thanks goodness” Newton said as he picked up the mirror with the gloves beam and flung it outside

“What’s up with that mirror?” Knox asked

“It transports you to this weird infinite field” Newton answered

“Ok then” Knox replied

“How does that glove work?” Danielle asked

“I found out how to focus those blue particles that were coming out of my hand” Newton said


	48. Equipment

“Newton this is revolutionary technology” Knox said

The group had been examining the equipment in the lab. Knox was looking at a device, the device consisted of a round pod with a glass door that opened into it. The manual for it said it was a genetic editor. The way to operate it was supposedly a touchscreen that was installed on the glass door. Knox couldn’t get the thing to turn on.

“Which one?” Newton asked with a chuckle

“This one. The gene editor” Knox answered

“Oh cool I haven’t seen that one yet” Newton said as he walked over to it

Newton reached his hand near the glass on the machine. Immediately the screen lit up.

“Huh. I wonder how that works” Knox said

Suddenly Danielle appeared near Newton and Knox. She was holding a handheld device. It was emitting a faint orb of blue light around itself.

“Holy crap it worked” Danielle said

“Did you just teleport?” Knox asked

“I guess” Danielle answered

Danielle started flickering and her voice started to get distorted.

“Oh that feels weird” Danielle said

Danielle completly dissapered. A few moments later she came walking to where Newton and Knox were situated.

“How’d you do that?” Newton asked

“This device I found. You press this button and a screen pops out of it. The screen is a map of your nearby area. Then you press where you want to go and then you press this button and you go there” Danielle said

“Wow. That’s cool” Knox answered

“Wanna try it?” Danielle asked

“Sure” Knox said as they were handed the device

Knox picked a random area in the lab. Everybody backed up as they pressed the teleportation button. After they pushed it their body froze and became as still as a statue. A minute later they reappeared.

“Did it work?” Newton asked

“Yes! It was awesome! Why do you ask?” Knox said

“Oh your body was still here” Danielle said

“Huh strange. I don’t think we should be fiddling with this one anymore. It feels weird to use” Knox said

“Ok let’s go check out another machine” Danielle said

The machine they approached was a long tube that narrowed as it went further forward. At the end of the tube was a series of mirrors and crystals. There was a touchscreen on a stand next to it. The screen displayed very long list of seemingly random numbers.

“I wonder what this does?” Danielle asked

“I don’t know I can’t find a manual for it in the computer” Newton said

“Weird” said Danielle as she pressed on one of the numbers

The number she pressed turned yellow on the screen. A small blue particle came out of the tube. It moved very slowly till it hit the first mirror, it then moved slightly faster. Then when it hit the first crystal it split into three particles. This repeated untill there was hundreds of particles all bouncing around. Eventually they all absorbed into one particle and shot out of the machine at an outstanding speed. The particle fazed through the wall of the lab and into the outside world.

“Wonder what that was all about” Knox said

“Well we’ll probably find out eventually” Danielle replied


	49. Experiments On The Purpose Of Machine 24

Experiment One:

Experiment One involves Machine 24 (No manual avalible for Machine 24). Experiment One aimed to understand the purpose of Machine 24.

2:32: A small brown rock is placed within Machine 24

2:32: Machine 24 closes

2:34: A small blue rock matching the dimensions of the rock placed within Machine 24 is ejected from Machine 24.

Experiment One ended with the creation of Object One (A small blue rock with strange properties)

Experiment Two

Experiment Two involves Object One and a pendulum. Experiment Two aimed to understand the effects of Object One.

2:45: Pendulem starts swinging in a straight line

2:46: Object One is placed near pendulum

2:46: Pendulum begins to move in a curved line

Experiment Two suggested the fact Object One may be able to bend space such as very dense objects do. It’s mechanisms for doing this are unknown.

Experiment Three

Experiment Three involves Machine 21 (Machine that has the ability to “teleport” objects. Similar to Machine 9. The diffrence between the two is 21 can teleport objects while 9 teleports life forms) and Object One

3:10: Object One is placed within Machine 21

3:10: Machine 21’s screen is replaced with a mass of scattered dots

3:11: A randomly chosen dot on Machine 21 is pressed

3:12: Both Object One and Machine Twenty One “blink” and disappear

Experiment Three ended with the disappearance of both Object One and Machine Twenty One. Both have not been located.

Experiment Four

Experiment Four involves Machine 24 and a small grey cube:

4:11: Cube is placed inside Machine 24

4:11: Machine 24 closes

4:14: A small blue cube matching the dimensions of the cube inserted into Machine 24 is ejected.

Experiment Four ended with the creation of Object Two (a small blue cube with strange properties).

Experiment Five

Experiment Five involves Object Two and Machine 30 (a laser cutter).

4:25: Object Two is placed inside Machine 30

4:27: Machine 30 is programmed to cut Object Two into thirds

4:29: Laser hits Object Two. Object Two combusts heavily damaging Machine Thirty and the area around it.

Experiment Five ended with the destruction of Machine Thirty and Object Two

Experiments ended after Experiment Five for safety reasons


	50. The Tale Of Cecylia

Cecylia saw a blue flash of light and then a strange feeling. It felt like she had been struck by lightning except without the pain. It had only last for a moment. She sat for a little bit wondering what had just occured. She came to the conclusion that it was a strange fluke of the mind and continued drinking her tea. She finished drinking her tea and left the tea shop. She got on her motorcycle and rode home. She arrived home. A stray cat was sitting on her porch. It walked up to her. She saw its eyes were foggy and she figured it was blind. The cat started walking and beckoned her to follow it. The cat led her to a beach. The beach hadn’t been there before. Cecylia lived in a land locked place. No one else was at the beach. A small wooden boat sat anchored in the waters. Cecylia and the cat boarded the boat and started sailing.

Cecylia began the explore the ship. The interior was much bigger than it looked on the outside. In the first room she entered she found the cargo bay. It had a lot of rations and books. She started reading some books.

It had been a week since Cecylia had boarded the ship. The ship steered itself somehow. She often wondered if she was actually going somewhere or if she was just on a course to nowhere. She had named the cat Martin. She had also discovered a backpack in the cargo bay. It was full of food and a peculiar machine.

The ship had stopped it’s movement. Cecylia had been sailing for two months now. The ship had finally found it’s destination. Cecylia grabbed the backpack and got off the ship. She looked back at the ship to see Martin still on it. Martin shook their head as if to say “I’m sorry I must leave you”. The boat started sailing away to it’s next destination. Cecyila felt something in her pocket. It was a compass but it didn’t have the directional markings a normal compass did. She decided to follow where the compass pointed.

Cecylia came across the rubble of a building. It looked burned and mangled. A few meters away from the rubble was a stone key that Cecylia pocketed. Then she started walking again.

Cecylia saw a dot on the horizon. It was finally something in this vast expanse of nothing. She continued walking towards it. After a while it revealed itself as a building. Eventually she reached the door and knocked. An old lady opened the door.

“May I help you?” She asked

“I think I’m lost” Cecylia said

“Ok how about you come inside and sit down” She said

Inside the building were lots of machines. There was one door on the left wall.

“So what’s your name?” The woman asked

“Cecylia,yours?” Cecylia replied

“Danielle, so how did you get here?” Danielle said

“I got on this ship then when the ship stopped sailing I got out and started walking and I got here.” Cecylia said

“Interesting, What’s in that backpack you have?” Danielle replied

“Oh just some food and this weird machine” Cecylia said as she pulled the machine out of the bag

Danielle looked at the machine for a moment and said “Cecylia I think you were brought here for a reason. I think it’s best if you stay here for the time being.”

“Ok” Said Cecylia


	51. Every Power Has A Limit

Newton listened as Cecylia told her story in great detail. When she was finished he spoke to her.

“Ok I’m guessing you’re very confused so let me catch you up to speed. We’re scientists and we discovered this new type of energy that is very powerful. We are studying it. There is also a very powerful being that is somehow linked to this. Oh and if you see a silver hand mirror don’t touch or look into it” Newton said

“Am I allowed to leave” Asked Cecylia

“Yes you are allowed. We wouldn’t force you to stay here. But if you do you will probably still be involved in this somehow.” Newton answered

“I think I’ll stay. At least for a little bit” Replied Cecylia

“Guys you’ll probably want to see this!” Knox said urgently from outside

There was a bomber plane. It was approaching quickly.

“Oh no not again!” Newton said

“Let’s evácuate the lab!” Danielle said

“Wait let me try something!” Newton said

Newton pointed his hand with the glove on it towards the plane. A thick stream of blue light erupted from it. Newton was under obvious strain. The light grabbed the plane and violently plunged it downwards. The plane buried itself in the ground. Newton fell over unconscious.

“Is he okay” Cecylia asked

“I don’t know let’s get him inside” Knox said

The three lifted the body into the lab and onto a machine. This machines purpose was for nursing someone back to health. First the machine scanned Newton’s body. Then it displayed a message on it’s screen “24 grams of SL is required for medical procedure”

“Cecylia on the desk over there, there is a bottle of clear liquid. Grab it and give it to me. Knox we need to finish setting up the machine.” Danielle said

Cecylia found the bottle and rushed it back to Danielle and Knox.

“Thank you so much” Said Danielle to Cecylia as she inserted the required amount of liquid into the machine

Newton woke up thirty minutes later. Knox had been supervising him and making sure he was recovering.

“It was the key” Newton said immediately after he woke up

“What was the key?” Knox asked

“The stone key. That’s how they found us” Newton said

“Oh” Knox said

“We need to go look at that plane” Newton said

“You should rest first” Knox said

“Yeah your right” Newton said

Newton rested for an hour. He then got out of the machine and started walking around.

“Oh your awake” Danielle said

“Yeah” Newton said

“What happened back there” Danielle asked

“I think doing that depleted me of all the energy I had stored”

“Makes sense” Danielle said

“We should go check out that plane” Newton said

The four people left the lab and walked to the crashed plane. They had just now realized that someone may have been piloting that plane. Eventually they reached the plane. Newton raised it out of the ground using his glove and felt faint. He took a swig from his flask and began to feel better.

“Hey guys, this plane doesn’t have a cockpit” Cecylia said


	52. The Old Man

Nobody really knew when the old man moved in. Reinhold surely didn’t. Nobody knew his name either, he was just the old man. Most of the adults in the complex pretended he didn’t exist: Reinhold and his parents moved into the apartment complex two years ago. Sometime between then and now he had moved in. Reinhold had only seen the old man once, he was practicing his basketball drills. The old man went on his balcony and threw a crunched up piece of paper off it angrily. Reinhold noticed the old man wasn’t really that old. A few seconds later the paper fell near Reinhold. He uncrumpled it, it was a printed picture of a map. Markings and notes covered it. Most of them were incomprehensible. Something about Obelisks and Tunnels. Reinhold put the piece of paper in his pocket.

Reinhold spent a while trying to figure out the meaning of the paper. He came to the conclusion that he couldn’t. He must be missing some crucial information. There was a game he and his friends played sometimes. It was called “knock on the old man’s door”. Nobody ever actually did it. The closest someone ever got to doing it was Will. He was about to knock then he started running back down the hallway. He said he heard crying from the other side of the door. Everybody thought he was lying and being a chicken. Though none of them were brave enough to check for themselves.

Reinhold knocked on the old man’s door. Nobody responded so he tried again, again no response. He tried the knob to his suprise it opened. There were no lights on inside the room. Reinhold didn’t know what made him go inside. He entered a hallway which led to a living room. Trash littered the floor. The old man was passed out on a couch. He looked significantly worse than when Reinhold first saw him. There was a desk littered with papers. Reinhold picked one up and it just read “The Tunnels Don’t Exist Anymore Where Did They Go” over and over again. Reinhold looked at the back of the page it was some conspiracy theory about aliens. Reinhold looked at the old man. The old man’s eyes opened. The old man let out a bellowing scream that sounded like “GET OUT” and lunged at Reinhold. Reinhold ran into a different hallway he ended up in the kitchen. He could hear the old man moving screaming “GET OUT”. Reinhold dashed inside a cabinet in corner of the room. To his suprise the interior wall popped out revealing a space in between the cabinets he went in there and replaced the wall. He could hear the old man tearing his house apart trying to find Reinhold. The old man started ripping the cabinet doors off their hinges. Reinhold made sure the old man had moved to a different room and then he came out of his hiding spot. He made a dash for the hallway exit. At the end of the hallway was the old man. He started running on all fours towards Reinhold screaming all the while. Reinhold sprinted towards the door and got out of the old man’s apartment. He slammed the door shut and ran all the way back to his own apartment.


	53. The Descent of Phil

Phil tried to go back to normal. After he got out of the tunnels he went back to his job. But it didn’t work, he couldn’t stop thinking about those couple of days. So he went back to the entrance to the tunnels. It wasn’t there. He checked everywhere for months trying to find the entrance but he couldn’t find it. So he decided if he couldn’t find the tunnels he would just find the farm. He looked on google maps where he thought farm was but where it was didn’t make sense. So he thought he might have underestimated how long the tunnel was and looked there and that made more sense. It was getting late and Phil was tired so he went to bed. In the morning he went to work. Then he tried to find the farm again where he was searching looked good at a glance, but if you looked closer you would see there was not enough area for the farm to fit. Phil tried a few other online maps but it was the same. He went to bed. He went to work. He tried to find the farm. He went to bed. Phil followed that cycle until he stopped showing up to work. Then he got evicted. He snuck into an apartment building with a few belongings. Time wasn’t a concept anymore, there was only times where he was trying to find the farm and times he wasn’t. The only times he wasn’t was when he was sleeping. He tried to find the farm while he was eating or going to the bathroom. There was always food and water, Phil didn’t know where it came from. There was always more maps, Phil didn’t know where they came from. Every map showed the same distortion of space. Not every map was normal, some were strange and alien. Phil knew how to read them though. Then one day something broke the cycle. Just momentarily. Broke it. Phil opened his eyes. A child was in his apartment. He screamed at them to get out. He knew if the child knew what he knew he would become like him. He didn’t want to let the child become like him. The child ran. He desperately tried to find them. Before it was too late. He saw the child in the hall. He ran at them. The child ran out of the apartment. Phil locked his door. Then he began to examine a new map.


	54. The Man In A Coma

Mike: Well that’s about it for that story folks. Now Janet will report on a strange “scientific marvel” that was just discovered last week.

Janet: Last week a man was discovered malnourished and dehydrated in a coma in an apartment building named “The Obelisci”. He was somewhat of a local legend in the apartment building due to his reclusive nature. He was discovered when a person entered his apartment. The person called an ambulance and he was put in a hospital and was nursed back to health but remained in a coma. Background checks we’re ran on him to try and find out something about him came up with nothing. To try and understand why he is in a coma he was put in a MRI machine. The MRI showed very large amounts of brain activity in all parts of the brain. The company Stevenson Technologies is now paying for his medical costs.


	55. Canoeing Trip

In about an hour Boy Scout troop 837 were going to embark on a caeoning trip.

“So what’s the deal with everyone here?” Silas asked Leon

Silas had just joined the troop a day ago. He transferred from a diffrent troop after that one fell apart. Silas had also been friends with Leon in the fifth grade. But then Leon moved to a diffrent school and they couldn’t be friends anymore.

“Ok so there’s Jacob, he’s the popular kid he’s kinda mean too. Then there’s Micheal he’s a quiet kid but a really hard worker. Maxwell is a really nice guy but he’s not so bright. Raimund will take a risk if he can. Oliwer is pretty smart. Otto is the guy to go to if you need something repaired. Fillip makes the plans for the troop. Eliex is good at building stuff. Jayton is one of the only ones who payed attention during the survival skills instruction. Osony has a freaky sense of direction. Ryan will do stupid things for fun. And finally Dewey who will always win a fight.” Leon said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“How much longer are we caenoing for?” Jacob asked

“About twenty minutes until we get to our campsite” Osony answered

“Cool” Jacob said

“My arms are killing me” Oliwer said

“Everybody’s are” Eliex said

“Not mine” Dewey replied

“We get it you’re strong” Jacob said

“Ok guys we’re here” Osony said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Camp had been set up for a while now. Dinner was freeze dried lasagna. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t that good. It was getting late and some people were going to bed.

“Hey new kid you want to go explore the woods with us” Jacob said to Silas

“I don’t really feel like getting lost tonight” Silas replied

“Cmon man Osony agreed to come” Jacob said

“Alright then who else is coming?” Silas asked

“Leon and Jayton” Jacob answered

“Ok then let’s go” Silas said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The five boys had been walking for twenty minutes.

“Hey what’s that” Jayton asked

There was a shiny something just inside the forest.

“I don’t know let’s check it out” Jacob said

Everybody walked towards it. It revealed itself to be a small metal orb on a pillar. Jayton touched the orb and a line of light shone out of the orb and connected to another orb.

“Huh weird. what do you think it is?” Leon asked

“Some sort of electric fence maybe” Silas said

Jacob walked in front of the line.

“AAAAAAA” Jacob screamed

“Jacob are you alright!” Osony asked

“Yeah I’m just messing with you” Jacob said

“Christ man you almost gave me a heart attack” Osony said

“Hey there’s a building here” Jacob said

“Yeah right” Said Jayton

“No dude I’m serious come look” Jacob said

Jayton and the others hesitantly walked into the line of light. Then the saw there was a path into a clearing with a wooden building in it.

“I’m going inside” Leon said

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea” Osony tried to say by Leon was already walked towards the building and everybody followed.

Inside the building there was a table with a handheld radio that looked to be from the 70s sitting on it. The radio had two dials on it’s side, one for volume, and one for tuning, it also had an unlabeled button. Leon picked the radio up.

“My dad has one of these things” Leon said

“Let’s see if it can get signal” Jayton said

Leon turned the radio on and extended the antenna. The radio only returned static.

“Try a diffrent frequency” Jayton said

Leon tried a bunch of frequencies but none of them worked.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The five boys had been back at camp for half an hour. Leon was fiddling with the radio. One of the adults asked where he got it and he said he brought it. He wasn’t having luck finding anything on any frequency. When suddenly the static cut out and was replaced with a soft tone.

“Hey guys I got something” Leon said

“That’s weird, who’s broadcasting just a straight tone” Silas said

“Maybe it’s one of those frequencies that broadcast encoded government secrets” Osony said

“Have you tried pressing the button on the side of it?” Jayton asked

Leon pressed the button and a wave of energy came out of the radio. It didn’t make any sound or anything like that but everyone could tell it happened.


	56. No One’s On The Water

“Final day of camping how you guys feeling?” Jacob asked

“Pretty good, it’s been a fun time” Maxwell said

“It has, we should get to caenoing if we want to get to the end point in time” Osony said

“Let’s get to packing up camp then” Jacob said

——————————————————————————

“You know they say you’re never twenty feet from a spider” Silas said

“Why did you tell me this” Leon said

“Well we’re on the middle of a lake and that’s probably not true now” Silas said

“Well maybe a spider is on one of the canoes” Leon said

“There’s no escape” Silas said

“Indeed” Leon replied

——————————————————————————

“Well we’re here” Said Nathan, he was one of the four adults on the caenoing trip

“It’s kinda sad leaving this place, it’s so peaceful” Jayton said

Nathan took out the walkie talkie that was given to him by the outfitter for the caenoing trip.

“Hey were at the end point” Nathan said

After a pause someone on the other end said “there’s no one on the water now”

“Are you sure we’re Boy Scout troop 837” Nathan said

“Troop 837 went missing twenty years ago, if your some prankster I suggest you hang up before we” The person said before their voice was replaced with static

“Hello, Hello?” Nathan said

“Leon, I think that radio is messing with the signal for the radio” Nathan said to Leon who was fiddling with the radio

Leon pressed the orange button. The landscape began to fade and everybody felt that wave of energy again. They couldn’t see very far now, there was a lot of fog.


	57. Walking

It was called “The Walker”, at least that’s what it called itself. It was a fitting name, The Walker walked with long spindly appendages. Even it didn’t know how many appendages it had, it had enough for its purposes and that’s all that mattered. It’s purpose was to hunt, whenever it would sense the existence of another something it would wrap its appendages around it and pull it away from where it was. It didn’t benefit much from this, the fog did. The fog was everywhere, the fog wasn’t always the fog of sight. It took many forms. It was the source of everything in that place. It would be the source of nothing eventually. It would devour itself completely.

It sensed something. Mutiple things actually. A pack. Packs were dangerous and the best way to deal with them was to take them one at a time. So that’s what it did. The prey didn’t struggle much. It sat still as it was taken. Some of the larger prey ran after The Walker.

——————————————————————————

Newton and the others had gotten more of a hang of the lab. The glove Newton wore was slightly less clunky than before. Something had been lingering in Newton’s mind, what was going on in that Stevenson Technologies “research center”. He was sure that it was involved somehow to this mystery. He decided he was going to break into the building. He asked around the lab to see if anybody else wanted to come.

“Honestly this stuff is still kinda scary to me, I don’t think I’ll go” Cecylia said

“Sure, a little more crime won’t hurt” Danielle said

“Cecylia told me she’d feel safer here if I was here while you guys were gone, I’ll stay here” Knox said

So it was just Newton and Danielle. They packed their bags and started walking to the research center.


	58. Return to Grey Hotel

The tunnels were longer than before. Newton and Danielle set up camp for the night. Danielle had packed some food and Newton had some SL. They didn’t talk much they were both tired frustrated at the tunnels. They both went to bed on the floor of the tunnel. Though Newton didn’t need to sleep he still could.

——————————————————————————

“What is going on” Newton said

“No clue” Danielle replied

Newton punched the wall of the tunnel.

“Hold on, I have an idea” Newton said

Newton built up some energy in the glove and shot it at the wall. Cracks of blue light appeared in the wall and faded quickly. Inside the tunnel a crushing sound was heard. The tunnel started shrinking, soon the exit door was right in front of them. They hastily left the tunnels and out to the outside world. The nightmare of the tunnels was finally over. They breathed a sigh of relief. It was nighttime, they decided to go back to the Grey hotel. At the front desk was not a person but a note that read “Your room is room 452 your key is enclosed”. Inside the note was a room key. The two went to room 452 and tried the key and it worked. They went inside. It was your standard room except there was a small slit in the wall. Newton had the dagger with him, he put the dagger in the wall. A platform rose from the floor, on it was a handheld device, it had a screen. Danielle inspected the device.

“I think this shows the security camera feed for the reasearch center” Danielle said

“Who left it here” Newton asked

“Probably someone who wants to help us” Danielle answered

“You should get some sleep” Newton said

“Yeah, night” Danielle said

“Night” Newton replied


	59. The Fog

“What the hell is going on” Fillip asked

A Boy Scout troop found themselves in quite a lot of fog. They hadn’t been there a moment before.

“Keep calm guys I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for this” Said Alan, one of the adults

“If we want to get through this we’re going to have to stick together, we don’t know what’s going on or how long this will last, we need to make sure it’s not going to be lord of the flies in here” Jacob said

Several unearthly appendages appread from the fog, they wrapped around Jacob and pulled him into the fog. All the adults ran after him.

“W-what was that” Silas asked with concern

“Jesus Christ almighty” Raimund said

“We’re all going to die, we’re going to die painful deaths” Ryan kept mumbling to himself

“Guys we need to calm down, let’s wait here for the adults to return” Conner said

“You’re right, do we have any of our supplies” Jayton asked

“The canoes are over here, they should have all are stuff in them unless someone took their stuff out” Oliwer said

“Ok let’s take stock of what we have and ration food while we wait” Fillip said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Ok so here’s what we’re working with” Jayton announced “we have enough rations for a week and all our survival gear” Jayton finished

“Do we have any weapons to you know fend off whatever that thing is” Eliex said

“We have a crossbow that was brought by one of the adults, some hatchets and bowsaws, and as a last resort we could use the hammers and wrenches we packed” Jayton said

“Anybody have any idea how we got here” Connor asked

“I think it has something to do with this radio” Leon suggested

“Why” Connor asked

“I tuned into a signal and pressed this button and then we were suddenly here if anybody else has another idea their guess is as good as mine” Leon explained


	60. The Garden

Newton couldn’t sleep. Technically he could but he didn’t need to. Instead of sleeping he went to the hotel garden. He walked through the halls of the hotel and realized what was wrong, there was no other signs of life in the hotel. Even though it was night at least some people would still be up, but nope no lights on that were noticeable from the gap under the door, no tv or sounds of talking. But the strangest part was Newton didn’t feel alone, there was something there with him.

Newton entered the garden through a glass door. He walked to a spot where he had once found a dagger. Sitting there now was an old ornate key, a yellowed label was attached to it that simply read “Master Key”. Newton took the key and started walking around the garden. Some of the plants had pedestals where some fun facts about the plant would be displayed. On the side of these pedestals was a small door, each door had a keyhole. Newton tried the key but it didn’t work wrong shape, the keyhole was made for a slim modern key. So Newton kept walking, eventually he came across a pedestal which read

“obeliscus dolorem is a strange plant. It is a deadly poison that can take any amount of time to kill. It resides in a persons body and feeds off of them. Many people who have taken the plant say they get a feeling of great power, others say they experienced terrible thoughts.”

On the pedestal door there was a different shaped keyhole was present. Newton inserted the key and turned, a satisfying click sounded from the pedestal. The door though did not open. Newton tried to pull up on the door and the whole pedestal rose. Eventually it was the size of a normal door. Newton tried to open the door now and it opened into a staircase leading into a tunnel. Newton walked through the tunnel and it eventually stopped. There was something above him and he pushed on it, it lifted away and Newton found himself in a laboratory. He looked around a bit then he saw it, etched into a microscope was the words Stevenson Technologies.


	61. Greetings Soldier

“It’s been a day and a half, I don’t think they’re coming back” Connor said

“Well I think they are” Ryan said

“They’re not” Oliwer replied

“How do you know” Ryan asked

“They’re just not coming ok, we need to get moving” Oliwer said

——————————————————————————

“How long have we been walking for” Eliex asked

“According to my watch, three hours” Otto answered

“What” Eliex replied

“We’ve been walking for three hours” Otto said

“Why’d you tell me” Eliex asked

“You asked how long we were walking for” Otto replied

“Man this place is messing with me” Eliex said

——————————————————————————

There’s something on the horizon. It is barely visible and emitting some sort of light.

“What is that” Silas asked

“Let’s find out” Maxwell said

The group walked closer. It was a large concrete cylinder, there was a light on the top of it.

“Let’s rest for a little bit, we’ve been walking for a while” Connor said

“Yeah I’m tired” Micheal said

“Guys there’s something carved into this thing” Jayton observed

“What’s it say” Fillip asked

“342” Jayton answered

“That’s a marking on the radio” Leon replied

“Try to tune into it” Connor said

Leon fiddled with the radio for a couple seconds then a voice emerged from it.

“Greetings solider, the next supply drop will arrive in 2 hours, good luck and hang in there” The voice said, the message repeated a few seconds after it ended

“This might be a trick, we don’t know how smart the things that live here are” Micheal said

“I think it’s real, if it isn’t we have weapons. I say we wait here” Connor argued


	62. Library

Newton went back into the tunnel as quietly as possible and started walking back through the tunnel. He was running his hand along the wall, it was a smooth texture. While he was walking he felt something not smooth, it felt like wood. Newton made an energy ball that illuminated the space with his glove. It was a door, Newton tried the handle and the door opened into another tunnel, though this one was made with bricks. Newton decided to walk through the tunnel.

——————————————————————————

Newton arrived at the end of the tunnel. There was a spiral staircase. Newton decided to go up it. It led it a library. Newton pulled on a chain and a light flickered on. Newton looked around and saw a multitude of shelves and a card catalog, he went over to the card catalog and opened the drawer labeled “O”.

“Oak Trees”, “Oarfish”, “Oatmeal Recipes”. Newton flipped through the cards untill he found the one he was looking for, it was scrawled in messy handwriting, a contrast to the neat print on the other cards. It was labeled “Obelisks”. Newton took the card and looked for it on one of the shelves.

A window shattered and something hit the floor

Newton looked over at the window and then the floor. On the floor was a small semi-sphere, it started spinning slowly. Blue cracks emerged from under it and started spreading, small fires spread along the edges of these cracks. Newton started looking faster for the book. The fires started consuming the library. Newton found the book and yanked it off the shelf then ran to the staircase. He barely managed to get to it before the fires consumed it. He ran to the bottom and through the tunnel to the door.


	63. Aurora

“Can you check when the supply drop is coming, I think it’s almost been two hours” Fillip asked Leon

“Sure” Said Leon as he turned the radio on, a voice spoke out of the radio

“Greetings solider, the next supply drop will arrive in 20 minutes good luck and hang in there” The voice said

“What do you guys think is in this supply drop” Silas asked

“Food I hope, we only have three days worth left, five if we starve ourselves” Fillip said

“That’s a really depressing thought” Eliex replied

“Well it’s realistic” Connor said

“I hope that there’s some sort of explanation to what’s going on here” Jayton said

“Me too” Osony said

“You guys want to play Aurora” Raimund asked

“I’ll play” Fillip said

Aurora was a game made up by the kids, it was played using a board from the game checkers, also with the checkers pieces. Both player had all checkers of their color on the board at positions chosen at random. Five checkers of both sides were randomly chosen and turned over, these turned over checkers were capture points that could be captured if all the corners of the square it resided on was occupied by a color of the other side. A checker can move to a space adjacent or diagonally one space away. A checker must move five spaces before it can take an enemy checker or a capture point. You can capture a piece by occupying the squares at the corners at the square the piece is occuping. When all capture points of one side are captured the game was won.

The game of Aurora had been going for ten minutes now. Almost everyone was spectating. Fillip had a plan and had so far predicted Raimund’s moves, it was Raimund’s turn now and everybody was watching him. Raimund looked at the board, he saw a move he could make, it was risky so Raimund made the move. Fillip wasn’t expecting that, he made a move. Raimund took one of his capture points, his third one, Fillip had only captured two. Fillip moved another piece and took one of Raimund’s pieces. Raimund responded by taking a piece that one was protecting. Fillip saw that that piece was protecting a capture point, so he took that point. Raimund took one of Fillip’s capture points. Fillip moved a piece. Raimund moved one of his pieces. Fillip took a piece. Raimund took the last capture point. Raimund shook Fillips hand.

“How long until that supply drop” Fillip asked Leon

“About five minutes” Leon said


	64. Supply Drop

——————————————————————————

“Supply drop arriving shortly, farewell and good luck soldier” said the radio

Shortly after this message Connor looked up at the sky and said “Guys I see something”

In the sky there was something, it was red and slightly obscured by the fog.

“It’s probably the supply drop” Silas replied

The object fell to the ground slowly. When it was on the ground it was observed to be a very large gray box with a red parachute attached to it. The box had no discernible way to open it. There was however the number “173” etched into one of the faces.

“How do- Try the radio” Oliwer said

“One step ahead of you” Leon said already tuning the radio

Leon tuned the radio to 173. A single tone rang out from the radio.

“Should I press the button” Leon asked

“Do it” Rainmund said

“Hold on, last time we pressed that we got transported to whatever this place is. What if it brings us somewhere worse” Jayton replied

“Or it opens the box” Connor said

Then many people joined the argument. It was a mess of yelling and just repeating the same arguments over and over again. Then that wave of energy came again.

“What did you do” Maxwell asked Leon

“I pressed the button” Leon replied

Everybody fell quiet, there was a very tense moment in group. Then a soft click penetrated the silence. Everyone looked at the box and saw its top had unlocked and slid slightly open. Then everybody looked at eachother and started laughing for some reason, they didn’t know why but they did. Then they went over to the box.

Inside the box were three other boxes. Eliex lifted one of the boxes out of the larger box and found it was already unlocked. Eliex opened it fully and looked inside, inside there was what appeared to be some sort of navigational equipment.

“There’s like compasses and stuff in here” Eliex said

“Compasses don’t work here. Let me see those” Otto said

Eliex handed Otto a compass

“Weird, these ones work apparently” Otto said and then looked into the box of navigational equipment

“I’m gonna need some time to figure out how these work” Otto observed

Everybody was crowded around Eliex as he opened the second small box. It was full of radios like the one Leon had.

“We are going to figure out what to do with those later” Fillip said and most others shook their heads in agreement

“There’s also some walkie talkies here” Eliex observed

“Lets leave those to Otto” Fillip responded

Eliex opened the last box, which was almost twice the size of the others. Inside was food, everyone cheered at this discovery

“Thank the lord” Jayton said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“So here’s what we have, we now have enough rations for two more months. We also have some good news, Otto has informed me that there is another one of those cylinders west of our location, he says we can make it in a month if we go at our current pace.” Jayton announced

“What about the radios” Connor asked

“Someone is keeping those, they already know who they are” Jayton answered

“Hey guys there’s something still in the box” Said Ryan as he pulled an small envelope from the large box

Ryan opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper. Ryan read the paper and his eyes widened. Then he began to speak.


	65. Carvings

“Guys I- you know what I’ll just read this” Ryan said in a nervous tone

“If you’re reading this letter then that’s a good sign.” Ryan took a breath then began to read again.

“Before I tell you anything else you need to do something, if anyone in your group-” That was all Ryan could say before several tentacle-like things wrapped around him.

Ryan started screaming

Dewey hurriedly grabbed a hatchet and began running towards Ryan. One of the tentacles tried to grab him also, he swung the axe at the tentacle and it came clean off. Dewey then cut off a tentacle grabbing Ryan with the axe. Ryan started to be pulled faster into the fog. Dewey started running after him. Within a few seconds Ryan’s screaming couldn’t be heard.

——————————————————————————

The memorial was almost finished. The boys had decided to carve the names of the people they presumed had died into the concrete cylinder along with the date they died and a description of them with an axe. Eliex was finishing the inscription for Dewey it read

“Dewey Fleming

Died: 24/5/2018

He did numerous sports and was really good at them, if you asked him he would give you some workout tips and nutrition tips. He was always willing to protect his fellow scouts. He died when he made a valiant effort to save Ryan from the tentacles of the monster. He will be missed.”

More carvings like this were already carved into the cylinder. When the carving was finished the scout troop shared a moment of silence untill Fillip broke it saying.

“We need to get moving to the second cylinder, that thing might know we’re here”


	66. Bones

The scouts were walking through the fog towards the next cylinder. It had been a day since Dewey and Ryan died and sorrow filled the hearts of all of them. Most scouts were still crying. Nobody was speaking unless it was necessary. Osony, Micheal, and Otto were leading the group. Micheal suddenly turned and started walking in a different direction, the others turned to see what he was doing, they saw a something that was hard to make out through the fog. Micheal crouched down and began observing the thing, others started walking towards Micheal.

When the other scouts got close they could see a skeleton that was laying on the ground, it was wearing a blue shirt, leather jacket, and jeans, in its arms was a leather bound journal. Micheal opened the journal to its first page which read

“June 12, 1989,

I don’t know why I’m here, all I know is that I’m trapped in this fog. I’ve tried screaming, yelling, and even meditation, but no matter what I do I can‘t leave this place. I am writing this from what I approximate to be two days from when became conscious of being here. I have a theory of how I got here, last thing I can remember is that I was at a party, I think I took something and now I’m having a really bad trip, that has to be true, because if it isn’t then I’ll have to confront the fact this is real.

I don’t want to die here,

I want to go home.”

When everyone was done reading Micheal handed the book to Fillip. The group started back on their original course.


	67. From The Journal of Caelan Reece, Part One

June 13, 1989

Three days here. I’m hungry there is no food. The fog is nothingness and it is everything. Everything is nothing. I am tired of nothingness. This is real, I know that now.

June 14, 1989

FOOD! I found some, it was in this metal box. I’m staying near that box until I’ve eaten most of the food, then I will carry the remaining food and start walking.

June 15, 1989

I’m not alone here, something took the food.

June 16, 1989

The thought of something else here is both terrifying and comforting, if something else is here then that means that other people might be here, it’s terrifying because it stole my food, if it needs to steal food then it’s hungry

It probably knows where I am

What happens when it gets hungry again

June 17, 1989

I saw it. I turned around to take care of bodily functions and there it was, it was like a floating eye, I only saw it for less than a second before it disappeared into the fog. I’m scared to look behind me.


	68. ID Cards Please

“Ok let’s break into this facility” Danielle said

Newton had told her everything that happened last night. They walked to the hotel garden and opened the secret passegeway.

“This isn’t like the farm tunnel, the walls are made of dirt” Danielle observed

——————————————————————————

They had reached the end of the tunnels and got into the research facility. They had also been able to locate which room they were in using the security camera watcher.

“I’ll take these” Newton said as he pocketed some flash drives

The two searched the room but it didn’t look like anything strange was going on there, so they moved to the next room over. Inside that room was more of the same things in the previous room. They opened another door which led to a hallway. They walked down the hallway and were confronted with a staircase.

“Which way should we go, down or up” Newton asked

“Let’s go up” Danielle answered

At the top of the stairs was another hallway. Newton opened a door on his left and saw a meeting room and people having a meeting. Everybody looked at Newton and he muttered

“Sorry wrong room”

Newton closed the door and the two hurried away from the room. As they were walking down the corridors a security guard stopped them and said

“May I see your ID cards please”

“iD cards?” Newton asked

“Let me see your ID cards” Said the security guard in the same tone and inflection

“I’ll handle this” Danielle said to Newton as she approached the security guard

“We seem to have misplaced our ID cards where can we get replacements” Danielle asked

Suddenly the security guard grabbed a knife from his pocket and lunched at Danielle. Danielle dodged the attack. As the security guard was turned around for a second Danielle looked at the back of his neck curiously, she then pulled something off of it and the security guard fell to the floor.


	69. Testing Site #4

“What just happened?” Newton asked concerned

“I don’t know, I just pulled something off this guy’s neck and he collapsed” Danielle answered

“Is he okay” Newton said

Danielle hovered over the security guards body and announced

“He still has a pulse”

“Let’s get out of here” Newton said

——————————————————————————

They had been walking for quite some time now, they had encountered some other security guards but the neck thing extraction always took them down. Most of the rooms were just standard laboratories, sure the data would be interesting but it would be data for stuff like microbiology, the pair was looking for information on that strange energy.

Newton took down a security guard, they didn’t even ask for the ID cards anymore they just attacked.

“We should are if there is anything useful these guys are carrying” Danielle said

“Good idea” Newton replied as he rummaged through the pockets of the guard

“This looks interesting” Newton said as he opened up a map

Danielle and Newton started to study the map looking for anything that would be useful. While looking at the map they realized something, they were looking at the wrong place, they were on the top floors but the bottom floors were labeled on the map as the “Testing Site #4”.

——————————————————————————

Newton and Danielle descended the staircase, the walls turned to stone and the light became fainter, the walk down was only a few minutes but the staircase made it feel like forever, once down they found a rusted door with the number four labeled in large faint red paint, they opened the door into a giant cavern, buildings sat on overhangs, carts on pulley systems transported things where they needed to go, the cavern was a large machine of protocols and instructions that made the gears turn smoothly.

Little did they know two people would jam those gears


	70. The Cavern

Newton and Danielle ducked into the nearest building, neatly arranged tools sat on storage shelves, uniforms hung on hangars, the pair put on the uniforms over their clothes. The uniform consisted of bulky clothing a backpack, and a large helmet that surrounded the whole head obscuring the face, the bulky clothing helped with the cold temperatures. When Newton and Danielle put on the helmet they found it showed the silhouettes of workers in a blue outline, many other things were highlighted in a handful of colors, Newton looked at a yellow square and a label appeared next to it “Electrical Generator”, Danielle made a similar discovery with one of the carts. From the outline of the helmets Newton and Danielle could see may workers riding in the carts.

A cart had arrived at the building they were in, some workers filed out of the building and some workers grabbed something from the room and got back into the cart, Newton and Danielle took this opportunity and got into the cart.

“You new here” Someone asked, Newton felt like he recognized the voice but could not place it, the helmet hide their face.

“What makes you ask” Newton asked the person

“You seem you’re excited to be here” The person observed

“Well you got me, just got here” Newton said

The cart stopped and the person said

“This is my stop, bye”

A couple seconds after the person got out the cart started to move again. When the cart stopped again Newton and Danielle got out. The cart stopped at a large section of the cavern wall that had been carved out, several building sat in the section and entrances to cramped tunnels sat in the wall. They entered one of the buildings and found a small metal box hooked up to a computer, the computer was printing out long strings of text. Danielle opened the metal box and found a glass orb with many blue particles floating in it hooked up to wires which connected to what looked like an electronic chip but wasn’t quite it. Newton unplugged the box from the computer and the second he did an alert appeared on the computer

“Replace Component 22B”

Newton decided against replacing it. Danielle and Newton left the building and decided to try and walk down one of the tunnels, the tunnel was large enough so they could walk through it easily but small enough that they had to walk single file.


	71. Shadows

The shadow people were definitely there. The cramped tunnel had led to another section of the cavern, this one seemed less inhabited. Scattered around the section were things from the 60s and early 70s. Newton and Danielle thought they had passed several people in this cavern but now it seemed like that wasn’t the case, Newton saw a human figure and turned on his glove light and the figure darted away with unimaginable speed.

They had come across a small building, a sign had been on one of it’s walls but it had long since faded. Inside the building chairs aligned in rows faced an old T.V, three dusty vhs tapes sat on top of the T.V. Newton picked up a vhs and read it’s label “Introduction” he put played the tape.

“Welcome” The man on tv said, he said some other words but they were lost to static.

“You are our best recruits for the”

“Procedures”

Several minutes were filled with just static. Until it spoke again.

“In a moment your guide will lead you to your stations, do not under any circumstances travel anywhere but your post”

The tape ended, Newton put in the second one, “Breach”.

“If you are watching this tape then a breach has occured”

“Initiate all containment protocols”

“Turn on all lights”

“Make sure everyone is accounted for and human”

Newton took the third tape with hands shaking, he looked at the title which said “Convergence” and put it in the T.V.

“If this tape is playing then the worst has come”

“This tape will cause all shadows to converge on it’s location”

“Know your death will not be in vain, your noble sacrifice will allow everyone else escape”

“The convergence protocol will execute in thirty seconds, if you wish to cancel to protocol this is the last time to do so”

Thirty seconds passed and old machines started to click to life, high pitched frequencies filled the air, shadows heard and converged, two people were lost and filled with fear, a friendly worker in the upper section had just realized where he knew the voice of someone from.


	72. Shadows Of The Past

“Turn on the lights” Newton said

“Hope they still work” Danielle said while looking for a light switch

Danielle flicked a light switch and lightbulbs flickered on.

“That should buy us some time” Said Newton

——————————————————————————

The fog had no end, the navigational devices led them to the next cylinder where they would tune to it’s frequency and wait for the supply drop. The supply drop was the same every time, food, radios, navigational devices. The scouts seldom talked, no one had been taken by the monster since it took Dewey and Ryan.

——————————————————————————

The lights went out.

“Well that’s not good” Danielle observed

Newton made a makeshift light with his glove. Something darted in the corner of his eye. He whipped around, there was a large patch of darkness, darker than the darkness of the cavern, the dark patch had several human shapes jutting out of it.

——————————————————————————

Something walked in the fog, it had many long appendages that reached deep into the fog. It would hunt with this appendages, ensnare it’s prey, assimilate it into the fog. These things weren’t prey. They were dangerous, they kept their forms, that was a sign of power, these things were smart, they were strong also, they could hurt it. All the other creatures of the fog ran from the things that weren’t prey, it wanted to run also, after the first couple it took wouldn’t go away, but it couldn’t, it would continue to play this game until they were fog.

——————————————————————————

Newton felt something brush his leg, he could run faster but he didn’t want to abandon Danielle. Something tried to grab his arm but it was the hand with the glove, Newton lit up the glove and the shadow dissipated.

——————————————————————————

Jacob regretted all those times he was mean to people, he figured he was in Hell. Hell didn’t look like he expected it to, he had always imagined fires and screams of the anguished. Another one of the reasons he thought he was in Hell was the fact he hadn’t died yet, he hadn’t eaten in what felt like months yet he still walked, that’s all he did he walked. Occasionally Jacob would get a glimpse of the monster that took him, usually it would just be in the corner of his eye, waiting, stalking, but sometimes it would be in front of him, he would run towards it and try and grab it, it was always too fast.

——————————————————————————

Danielle tripped, Newton helped her up, she tried to start to run again but was slower. Newton fended off the shadows as best as he could but he knew it was hopeless, the shadows were going to get them.

——————————————————————————

Dewey fought with everything he had left in him, he fought to survive, he fought to walk another step, he fought the beast. He didn’t think this was Hell, he thought Hell would be better than this. The beast was everything this place was, the beast was the fog, the tendrils, the beast was the ground on which he stood. The beast was not him, he was not the beast.

——————————————————————————

Newton was going to stay with Danielle, she had collapsed but was still alive, Newton fought off the hoards of shadows, he was about to collapse also, the energy inside him would run out. Newton only had the energy for one more light, he waited till as many shadows were near them as possible then let out one last light and collapsed. He was still conscious but he could not move, he remebered his flask in his pocket, he realized he should have taken a drink from it long ago but in the heat of the moment forgot about it, if only he could reach for it, take a swig. He felt something grab him, he felt something being taken out of his pocket and put to his lips, he realized what the shadows were, they were kind, they only wanted to help him. Giant lights at the top of the cavern turned on with a loud clank, the shadows disappeared, large amounts of workers filed in, Newton and Danielle got up before they noticed them.


	73. The Man

It was easy enough to sneak out of the cavern, the crowd was easy to blend into. Newton and Danielle found a staircase, not the staircase that they had come down from, this was a diffrent staircase. The staircase led to a hall, the hall had an exit sign, the exit sign led to a door which Newton and Danielle burst through. The door led to the alleyway, wasn’t much of a surprise to them, they had both been expecting to end up there again. A man sat in the alleyway, he began to laugh.  
“Let me guess, you encontered the shadows” The man said  
“I’m sorry who are you?” Newton asked  
The man seemed strange, usually people gave off a small amount of the energy, enough that Newton could sense it if he was close enough to them, but the man didn’t seem to give off any energy, he seemed like a hole in reality.  
“I was someone like you, my advice is to just get out now while you can, if you become to valuable then you might have some difficulty getting out” The man explained  
“Why are you telling me this?” Newton responded  
“Felt like I should, wish someone would have told me that when I was in your shoes” The man answered  
Then the man was gone, he just vanished. Newton decided against leaving. Danielle and Newton decided to go back to their hotel. When they got to the hotel they found it a pile of ashes.  
“I knew I shouldn’t have left that book in there” Newton said  
“The one about the obelisks?” Danielle asked  
“Yeah that’s the one” Newton answered  
“Let’s go home” Danielle said as she began to walk to the alleyway, Newton followed


	74. Tea

The hotel was just gone, and it’s our fault” Newton said

“If it makes you feel better I don’t think there was anybody in the hotel” Danielle replied

“What’s that?” Danielle asked as she saw a dot in the sky

“I don’t know” Newton replied

The dot got bigger and Newton pointed his glove at it, Danielle pulled out a dagger. The dot glided towards them and eventually landed in front of them. The dot was a person in what looked to be a really strange wingsuit. After a couple seconds Danielle and Newton recognized the person as their friend Knox.“We got bored in the lab so me and Cecylia invented these flying suits” Knox said

“Knox saw the not so good condition their friends were in and asked “You guys alright?”

“Not really” Danielle answered

“Let’s get back to the lab” Knox said

——————————————————————————

Knox, Danielle, and Newton entered the lab. Cecylia was tinkering with one of the wingsuits.

“What are you working on?” Danielle asked Cecylia

“Seeing if I can get a smoother flight” Cecylia answered

“Cecylia is really the genius behind these suits” Knox said

“Knox you contributed a lot to the project and I couldn’t have created these without you” Cecylia said

“Oh do you guys want some tea, there’s a tea machine in here” Knox said

“Sure” Danielle replied

“I’ll have a cup” Newton said

“I’ll take one too” Cecylia said

Knox walked to a machine and a couple minutes later came back with a teapot full of tea and set it on a table, everyone got a cup and sat down at the table and poured themselves a cup of tea.

“It kinda tastes like an amalgamation of every tea, but it still tastes good” Danielle said

“Yeah the flavor’s a little strange but you’ll get used to it” Cecylia replied

“So what happened to you guys?” Knox asked

“Well first we went back to the Grey Hotel” Newton said

“Ugh I hated working there, my manager would give me the weirdest tasks like go put this dagger in the garden, stuff like that. He was always so rude too, glad I got out of there” Knox said

“Wait you put the dagger in the garden?” Newton asked

“Yeah” Knox said

“I found it” Newton replied

“Well that’s weird, so what else did you do” Knox said

Newton and Danielle told them about their experience, about a building, about a cavern, about shadows they did not understand, about how a hotel was reduced to ash and rubble.

“Well that’s about it, what did you guys do?” Danielle asked


	75. Flying

“Well at first we didn’t really talk, I’ve been getting used to the shock of being here” Cecylia said

“Yeah this situation were in is really weird” Newton replied

“But then we started to talk more and we really bonded” Said Knox

“So how’d you get the idea for those flying suits?” Danielle asked

“Well I found this 3d modeling program on the computer, it’s kinda confusing but we figured it out. I was thinking about some things you wrote in your journal and decided to test some things out. The first few flying suits barely worked but we kept making improvements and eventually got to where we are now” Knox explained

“Amazing, may I see one of these suits?” Newton asked

“Sure” Said Knox as he grabbed a suit and handed it to Newton

Newton studied the suit for a couple moments before saying “This is extraordinary, if I got this right you created a sustained energy flow while using energy to power the propulsion system”

“Yeah Cecylia mostly figured that out though” Knox said

“You do realize what this is right?” Newton asked

“What?” Cecylia asked

“This is a perpetual motion machine” Newton said


	76. Grounding

“So we knew this energy was powerful, but is it really infinitely powerful?” Danielle mused

“Well technically perpetual motion has been achieved before, problem always is getting energy out of it” Newton said

“Well we are getting energy out of it, the propulsion systems” Cecylia responded

“Yeah we are getting energy” Newton said

“We’ve only ran the machines for about fifteen minutes at a time, it might not actually be perpetual” Knox responded

“Good point, could we hook up the machine to something other than the propulsion and see how long it runs?” Danielle asked

“I don’t think we could remove the machines from the suits themselves, we could build another machine and hook it up to something” Cecylia answered

“Sounds like a plan” Newton replied

“Any idea of things to plug it into?” Danielle asked

“Something like a lightbulb maybe” Knox responded

“I don’t think we have an adapter to power a lightbulb with the energy” Newton said

“Why don’t we just plug it into the ground” Danielle said

“Sounds good” Knox said

“Yeah, so how do we start building this machine?” Newton asked

Cecylia walked over to a desk drawer and opened it, she pulled out several small objects. Knox followed suit and started a computer program which started a machine, the machine spun a plate in it’s center very fast and up from the plate came a box. Knox handed the box to Cecylia and she assembled the pieces she had, then she grabbed some other pieces and would assemble those, this process went on for a while until Cecylia brought the box to the rest of the group and said that she was done building the machine.

The machine looked very much like the machine in the flying suits except for one difference, the machine two spikes that would go into the ground.


	77. Vines

“Is everything in order?” Knox asked

“Seems to be” Cecylia answered

“Turn it on” Knox said

Cecylia flicked a switch on a device with two spikes poked into the ground, a blue light shined from the device.

“It’s beautiful” Newton said

The grass around the device began to grow quickly. It tangled itself into knots and grew larger.

“I think we should turn off this thing” Danielle suggested

“No, this is too interesting” Newton replied

The grass grew into thick vines which wrapped around the machine. The vines grew and wrapped around Newton’s legs and grew faster when wrapped around him, the vines soon entrapped everyone in the great tangles. The vines suffocated everyone except Newton, Newton did not need air to breath, but the vines still did have an effect on him, they took the energy out of him, sapping him of his life. Every person in the vines was on the verge of death when the vines stopped growing and began to quickly wilt and loosen their grip on the people. Knox, Cecylia, Danielle, and Newton quickly climbed out of the mess of vines. After they had recovered their senses they looked at the device, a vine had pierced through the device stopping it from functioning.

“Let’s agree not the do that again” Knox said through coughs

“Agreed” Everyone said in unison

“If we want to actually test thing thing we’ll have to make some sort of transformer for it” Cecylia said

“I have an idea” Knox said

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The transformer idea that they came up with consisted of a box with the sustained energy flow hooked up to a blade of grass, the blade of grass would feed into a incinerator. There were several kill switches that would stop the sustained energy flow if things got out of hand, and as a last resort a very heavy rock would fall on the box if needed.

“Ok start the device” Cecylia said

Newton pushed a button on the device, the blue light came on and couple seconds the later the grass began to grew.

“Remember the kill switches, also the stone” Danielle said

The machine worked as predicted for a couple minutes, the grass would grow then immediately get incinerated, but the incinerator was being moved by the grass little by little. Eventually the incinerator was too far away and the grass escaped the system and began to grow without incineration. Cecylia immediately hit a kill switch and the grass stopped growing and died.


	78. Cecylia Goes Home

“I’ve been wondering Newton, doesn’t it take like ten years for someone to be declared legally dead, why have you been when it’s only been a few months?” Knox inquired

“Oh I didn’t tell you, I faked my death” Newton answered

“Alright then” Knox said

“You’re probably still just a missing person, you could go back you know” Newton said

“Eh I don’t want to, don’t want to get into the details but my life kinda sucked out there” Knox replied

“What about you Danielle, you ever think about going back and just living life normally?” Knox asked

Danielle looked up from a project she was working on, a digging machine using the engines Knox and Cecylia had designed for the flying suits and responded

“The chance for me to go back and live my life as the person I once was passed me by many years ago, I thought about getting a fake identity and stuff, but no I’m good here for the time being” Danielle answered

“I feel like I want to go home sometimes, I miss a lot of people in my life” Cecylia

“You know if you do decide to go then no one will be mad at you or anything” Knox replied

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Cecylia I wanted to wish you luck before you depart from here” Danielle said

“Thanks, that really means a lot” Cecylia responded

“I never really thought my life would go this way, I always thought that I would just be following that life plan, you know, go to college, get a good job, buy a house.” Cecylia said

“The thing about life is it seems to read your plans for it then does the complete opposite. I don’t know why I decided to hijack that airplane, I knew it would change my life drastically, but the idea just was in my head fully formed like the perfect plan. I am just now realizing that they’re might have been something weird going on there” Danielle said

“I’m going to miss you” Cecylia responded

“I’m going to miss you also. Cecylia I’m proud of you, you’ve discovered this whole other world of things that seem impossible, it’s very hard to just leave that” Danielle said

“Thank you” Cecylia said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Four people stood by a weathered and cracked obelisk, a circular entrance to a tunnel stood in the ground a few feet away.

“I guess this is goodbye” Cecylia said

Newton took something out of his back, a machine with a hole through the center of it and handed it to Cecylia.

“There’s something to remember us by” Newton said

“Thanks” Cecylia said

Danielle handed an envelope to Cecylia.

“There’s plane tickets in there, also about five-hundred dollars” Danielle said

“You have your cover story prepared?” Newton asked

“Yes” Cecylia said

Knox hugged Cecylia and Cecylia hugged them back.

“I’m really going to miss you” Knox said

“I’m really going to miss you also” Cecylia replied

“Well I think it’s time I go, thank you for this short but incredible time here, this experience was one of a kind” Cecylia said

Cecylia climbed into the tunnel entrance and started walking, as she walked to her home the others walked to their’s.


	79. Jacob

They must have been walking for months now, it was the same routine over and over again, find a cylinder, wait for supply drop, get supplies, find the next cylinder. The scouts talked a lot, it was really the only thing they could do.

“So do you want to know what the sound was?” Leon asked the group, he was telling a story

“Sure” Someone said

“I cannot tell you, you are not a monk” Leon said the punchline of the joke

Everyone groaned

“Really dude” Silas said

“Yes, really” Leon responded

“So what was the noise actually?” Maxwell asked

“I can’t tell you, you’re not a monk” Leon answered

“No seriously” Maxwell said

“There is no answer for the sound, it’s a joke dude” Leon said

“Guys what’s that” Connor said with urgency

In the fog was the shape of a human

“Hey!” Raimund yelled

“Guys! It’s me! Jacob!” Jacob yelled back

“Jacob? We thought you died!” Jayton yelled

“Well I didn’t!”

“Come over here!” Osony yelled

Several things happened, first Jacob started running to the group, then Connor and Oliwer started running towards Jacob, half a second after Connor and Oliwer started running several tendrils reached out of the fog and yanked Jacob away.

——————————————————————————

Jacob would not go like this again, he began ripping the tendrils off him, tearing them apart, but it was no use, there were too many tendrils. Suddenly a great force slammed into him and the tendrils, some tendrils reached off of him and he could feel them wrestling with something else, Jacob did not hesitate to get out of the tendrils and start running.

——————————————————————————

“He’s gone, he’s gone again” Fillip said angrily

“We found him once we can find him again” Otto said

“And what if we can’t, what if we don’t see him again” Connor replied

“Don’t say that” Fillip said

An out of breath Jacob flung himself at the group, he landed on the floor and laid there for a few moments.

“Jacob!” A surprised Connor exclaimed

“I told you” Otto said

“We have to go, we really have to go now” Jacob said

“Why?” Fillip asked

“No time to explain just get on the move” Jacob answered


	80. Chapter 80

Episode Eighty-One: A Door  
——————————————————————————

A door was discovered in the lab. It was at the end of the living quarters and wasn’t there before.

“Huh, a door” Knox said

“Should we open it” Newton asked

“Yeah I think we should open it” Danielle replied

Knox turned the handle open pulled on the door. It was locked.

“It’s locked” Knox said

“Let me try” Newton said as he tried to open the door, he didn’t succeed.

“Try the glove” Danielle suggested

Newton fired some particles from his glove at the door, nothing seemed to happen, Newton tried to happen, it was still locked.

“We have the gun” Knox said

“Yeah no” Danielle replied

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Hey do you know anything about this door” Newton asked the lab assistants in general

“Not really, we didn’t put it there” One of them replied

“Well it was worth asking, what are you working on” Newton asked

“This mirror, trying to make it do things that regular mirrors just don’t do” Another one replied

“Interesting, I’d be happy to help if you needed it” Newton said

“We’re fine, thanks though” One replied

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

A device to break down the door was constructed, it was similar to other devices made to break open doors but much stronger. Knox was the first to try the device on the door.

“Ready” Knox said

“Ok, start” Danielle replied

When the device hit the door a large breaking sound was heard, not from the door, but from the device, Knox was thrown backwards with force.

“My god, Knox are you okay” Danielle asked very concerned

Knox coughed a bit and replied “Yeah I’m fine”

“We should still get you checked out” Newton said

“That sounds like a good idea” Knox replied

Knox walked themself to the medical machine and laid down, Newton turned on the machine and it scanned Knox.

“Several bone fractures detected, fix?” The machine said

Newton selected yes to fix.

“Subject looks in good condition” The machine said

Knox got up and said “Thanks for that”


	81. A Letter

“Well then” Newton said

“Anyone have a letter opener” Knox asked

Danielle took a pocket knife and opened an envelope, the envelope had been discovered on the floor of the lab, presumably it had been pushed in from under the door. The symbol of Stevenson Technologies was stamped on it.

Danielle took a sheet of paper with a handwritten paragraph on it from the envelope, the paragraph read:

“To, the ones who this letter has found

Let’s just say it, I know you broke into that building, I’m not angry at you, in fact I’m happy you did break in. You breaking in allowed some security flaws to be seen. I would like to meet with the four of you, there’s a small black square in the corner of this letter, tear it off and give it to the one with the glove, tell him to rub it on his skin, he’ll know where we’ll be meeting.

Sincerely,”

Beneath the sincerely was a name that was intelligible. There was also a black square in the bottom right hand corner of the letter, Newton tore it off and rubbed it on his skin.

“Get the gun, we might need it” Newton said


	82. A Meeting

“Why exactly do we need the gun” Danielle asked

“Remeber Grey Hotel, we’re going there” Newton said

“First off, which gun are you guys talking about” Knox asked

“The gun that was very dangerous” Newton said

“Okay, second why would we need it” Knox responded

“Last time we were at that location someone burned the place down” Newton answered

“Wait Knox, what other gun was there” Danielle inquired

“Uh don’t worry about it” Knox answered

Newton opened a desk drawer and took out a key, Danielle retrieved her key also. They retrieved the weapon and Newton held it for a moment, a blue light appeared in the handle of the gun. Newton put it in his pocket.

“Well, let’s get going” Newton said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Huh, you said this place burned down right” Knox asked

“Grey Hotel burned down, it seems that a building similar to it has been built where it was” Newton answered

“Let’s go in” Danielle said

The three opened the front door, a building design eerily similar to the research facility greeted them.

“Hello there, I believe you have an appointment, follow me” Said a smiling man in a suit.

Newton shrugged and started to follow the man, Knox and Danielle hesitated for a moment before deciding to do the same. The man led them to an office room with four chairs, the man sat down in one of them, no one else sat.

“We’ll come on sit down” The man said in an overly cheerful tone

Newton awkwardly sat down.

“Why am I here” Newton asked

“Well I presume because of a letter you received” The man said the too happy tone and with a wide smile

“Yes I am, I noticed an error in the letter, you said you wanted to meet with the four of us, but one of us has left” Newton said

“Oh we know that one left, there’s still four of you” The man said

“What-” Newton said before he was cut off

“When you broke into our building you awakened something, the shadows, we had them contained, but you released them” The man said

“Well I’m sorry about that” Newton replied

“I want you to recontain these shadows, we’ll give you the tools you need and you just have to get them all trapped again” The man said

“Those shadows are good, I don’t want to trap them in anything” Newton said

“I won’t deny that those things may have been helpful to you, but they’re causing problems for us” The man responded

“I’m not doing it” Newton said

“You think you have a choice Newton-” Was what the man said before a bolt of energy hit him and he fell

Newton felt his pocket for the gun, it wasn’t there, he looked around, Knox was holding the gun.

“How did you get that” Newton asked

“It was just sitting on the table” Knox answered

“You can’t hurt me” The man said in a monotone voice, he was sitting back in his chair.


	83. Return to The Cavern

Everyone just stared at the man for a few minutes, his shift in speech was unsettling.

“Well let’s get going then” The man said in the overly cheerful tone

The man pushed a bookshelf in his office away, behind the bookshelf were elevator doors. The man pushed a button and they opened into a nice looking elevator. Everyone walked inside.

The elevator doors closed. The man started to tap his foot and whistle.

“I never got your name, what is it” Knox asked the man

“Oh I think it’s George, let’s go with that, George” George answered

“Last name, if you will” Knox asked again

“George” George answered

“Your name is George George?” Knox asked

“Suppose it is” George George answered

The elevator floor suddenly dropped away and all four people in the elevator started falling into darkness. Several people were screaming it was not evident which.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

After falling for a bit of time the four people hit a floor in a cavern, they hit the floor not with the velocity they had aquired after all that falling but more with the velocity of falling a few feet.

“Now that we’re here we can get started on getting rid of those shadows” George said

“Where did everyone go, last time we were here this place had a lot of people here” Danielle asked

“Well we had to evacuate due to the shadows, that and a component, what was it, component 22B dissapered, it was a tiny box, but very important, several workers died due to it being missing” George said

Newton looked at the ground.

“Well now that we’re here let’s get to trapping those shadows” George said

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Danielle, Knox, and Newton had each been equipped with heavy duty flashlights, a device with a single button on it, and several small boxes that could be opened. They were instructed to search the cavern for shadows that were not their’s, once they found one they would press the button on the device, the device would activate several flood lights near them, trapping the shadow.

Then they would use the heavy duty flashlights to get the shadow in a close range to one of them, they would then open one of the boxes and the shadow would be sucked into it. When all of the boxes had a shadow in them they were instructed to go to a specific room and release the shadows into it by opening the box.


	84. Perspectives of A Cavern

They must have been in the cavern for days now, they were underground so they could not see the sun, no one had a watch, and all of the clocks had been stopped. There was lots of food scattered across the buildings in the cavern, but Newton only had a limited supply of liquid in his flask.

The three people had been separated, not on purpose of course, first Knox left to find food and didn’t return, then Newton and Danielle got seperated looking for them.

——————————————————————————

Newton stared at George and he stared back. Newton had managed to find his way back to the exit but George was blocking it. The two had not said a single word to eachother.

“Well Newton frankly I think you should get back to work, you can leave when you’re done you know” George said

“I know you’re lying” Newton said

“What do you mean” George asked

“You didn’t have the shadows contained, I saw them before I played the tape” Newton answered

“We did have them contained, it was in such a way that they couldn’t cause problems for us but were still roaming around, the tapes were for if that ever changed” George explained

——————————————————————————

Knox gave up on the shadows a while ago, they couldn’t find the room to release them so what was the point. They were just walking along the cavern and searching the buildings they found now.

There were things here other than the shadows, the things looked like an echo of an insect, most of them were about the size of a small dog. The things sprayed some liquid that gave a rash if it touched skin, because of this Knox had taken on some new attire, they had found a suit reminiscent of an old diving suit, though the helmet was more like an astronauts helmet. At the end of the arms of the suit was a large needle, Knox used this as a weapon. For a while Knox thought they were killing the things with the needle, until they stood too long near the body of one and it got back up, that’s when they learned the needle only incompacitated the things for a short time.

Knox entered a new building and did their usual routine of getting rid of the five insect like creatures in there. They did their usual defense of spraying the rash liquid, they didn’t seem to be able to move while doing this so Knox was able to get three of them there, when that didn’t work one of the two left jumped high in the air towards Knox, they were able to hold out the needle and the thing lunged onto it, the second one lunged at one of Knox’s legs, it latched onto their pant leg with its teeth but luckily did not bite Knox’s leg, Knox quickly stabbed it with the needle and it fell off their leg tearing a piece of the pant leg off.

“That’s going to need to be patched up” Knox said frustrated

Knox started searching the building, they found some tape in a cabinet and fixed their pant leg. They found some food, a couple of protein bars and ate them.

Something was sticking out from under the cabinet, Knox pulled it out, it was a rectangular tablet, it had a clear glass rectangle in its center and a border of an inch of plastic, it had two buttons. Knox had seen something like this before in another building, it had been stuck to a wall on top of a symbol that was painted on the wall, Knox pressed the top button and the tablet fell of the wall and broke. Knox looked around for any symbols on the walls of the building, they found one scratched into the wall, they placed the tablet against the wall and pressed the top button and the tablet stuck itself to the wall, holding the tablet Knox pressed the other button.

The symbol on the wall turned red, when Knox looked at it a thought was forced into their head,

“The Orb can save us”

——————————————————————————

Danielle stared down a shadow, it didn’t seem to notice her, she lunged at it while opening the box, the shadow was then trapped in the box.

“Should be the last one” She said to herself

Danielle counted the boxes, all of them had a shadow trapped in them, she followed her trail back to the room. She opened the sealed door and quickly released the shadows into it before quickly closing the door, only a couple escaped this time.

Danielle saw a shadow, she tried to sneak towards it but it darted away, she thought about following it but remebered the strange creature she found in the area the shadow was in and decided it wasn’t worth the hassle if she encountered one of those things again. She turned back and continued to look for shadows.


	85. Battle Plan

Knox looked at the glowing red symbol again, and again the thought was placed in his head, they knew it was not their thought. Knox disengaged the tablet from the wall, they then etched the symbol into the material that made up their suit, they placed the tablet over the etched symbol and pressed the bottom button, once again the symbol glowed red and the words were in their mind again. Knox thought it best to leave the building, the things would be waking up soon.

——————————————————————————

Danielle walked the cavern in search of more shadows.

——————————————————————————

Knox walked the cavern in search of their friends.

——————————————————————————

Newton walked the cavern in search of a way out.

——————————————————————————

A tower stood, rising up to the ceiling of the cavern, Danielle walked to it hoping there were shadows inside.

——————————————————————————

A tower stood, rising up to the ceiling of the cavern, Knox walked to it hoping their friends were inside.

——————————————————————————

A tower stood, rising up to the ceiling of the cavern, Newton walked to it hoping there was a way out inside.

——————————————————————————

Three people entered a tower at the same time.

“Newton, Danielle” Knox said in surprise

“Who are you” Danielle asked Knox

“Oh sorry” Knox said and took off his helmet

“Is it really you guys” Newton asked in suspicion

“I sure hope it is” Danielle said

“I have something to show you guys” Knox said

Knox held the tablet over the symbol etched into their jacket, they pressed the bottom button and the glyph turned red.

“What just happened” Danielle asked

“You had a thought, but the thought wasn’t yours” Knox said

“Yeah it was like, the orb can save us, or something” Danielle said

“That felt very similar to the telepathy I have, where did you find this” Newton asked

“Inside of one of the buildings, the symbol was scratched into the wall” Knox said

“We’ll talk more about this later, we need to figure out how to get out of here” Newton said

——————————————————————————

“Ok so I’m going to play the contingency tape, then lead the shadows to you and George, then Knox is going to be rounding up a bunch of those weird insect things and lead them to George. Then with all that we try and rush George and get out. Did I get that right” Danielle said

“Yep that’s the plan” Knox said

“Ok, let’s get this done” Newton said


End file.
